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Wireless - Friday, July 24, 2009

Nokia Buys Cellity's Mobile App Team

Nokia has bought Germany-based Cellity for an undisclosed amount. It had raised a multi-million euro first round from Mangrove Capital (early Skype backers ), Neuhaus Capital Partners, who co-led the deal, along with business angel network B-toV. Backers likely did not see a return as reading between the lines it is clear that Nokia bought Cellity on the cheap.

The startup set out to reduce mobile phone bills using a software-based low-cost router that has to be loaded onto the phone and then runs in the background. It works best with Symbian phones but it can also run on Javaphones. Users who download the client also get address book functionality, Twitter plug-in, and a free SMS service.

The team running Cellity includes: Sarik Weber, who was part of Xing's early success (the online biz network fka as OpenBC, now listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange), Nils Weitemeyer, founder and CEO of the mobile games developer Elkware (acquired by InfoSpace) and Tim von Törne once ran Skype Germany.

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