The Next Web

French IM service Iminent might use the money injection for Asian expansion

Written on April 14, 2008 – 9:32 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that Paris-based start-up Iminent raised a second round of funding this month from I-Source Gestoin and previous investor 360º Capital Partners. The French start-up turns instant messaging conversations into a chaotic experience with over-the-top emoticons and video options, exactly the kind of experience teenagers dig.

Iminent

With this €2.4 million series B, Iminent has raised a total of €5.4 million. So I’ve mailed CEO Francis Cohen to congratulate him and ask some questions. He told me that they’ve started Iminent because they thought Instant messaging was still a poor medium. Cohen: “When we compared IM and the web as a platform, it was striking to see that the range and deepness of services were very poor on IM. So the idea was to expand IM services beyond the obvious, so IM could sustain the comparison with the web.”

When I was taking a look at the Iminent site, it immediately struck me that the service supported a large number of languages - English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian - yet not any Asian languages. This is kind of odd, since Asian teenagers seem obsessed with self-expression. Will Iminent use the new money injection for Asian expansion? “Our first priorities are Europe and North and South America, but Asia is definitely in our plans”, said Cohen.

So is Cohen prepared for the day that IM services will launch the very same features as his service offers? After all, it isn’t too hard to create psychedelic smilies. “Once you see IM as a platform, you don’t stress about IM software editors coming into services. We are working with some IM editors who like to assess companies like Iminent as good as they can. Since we’re expanding the functionality of IM.”

I hope you like that post!

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france, funding, iminent, series b, Start-ups

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eBuddy secures Series B: 6.5 million euro from Prime Technology

Written on February 5, 2008 – 1:03 am
Patrick de Laive, Internet entrepreneur and co-founder of Fleck

Co-founder Onno Bakker during lunch2.0

This just came in. Amsterdam web based IM service eBuddy secures a 6.5 million round of funding of Prime Technology ventures. The money will be used for further international expansion and growth for their mobile application (with already almost 2 million downloads).

While on the other side of the ocean people write and talk mainly about eBuddy’s competitor Meebo, eBuddy is still the biggest web-based IM company out there and with 6.5 million Euro in the pocket they will definitely try to get more presence and buzz in the US.

In October 2006 eBuddy got a capital injection of 5 million euro for Lowland capital. No details of both rounds are disclosed (yet).

Last week we had lunch2.0 at the eBuddy HQ and I must say that they’ve shown an impressive growth over the last years. Co-founder Onno Bakker told me that they were working on an API, but no news yet when they will release it. Congrats to the guys!

ebuddy, funding, lunch2.0, series b

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