Followap Completes Series C Round of Financing Led by Sequoia Capital; Releases Presence Platform for Next Generation IMS Networks
June 02, 2005 09:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
MENLO PARK, Calif. & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 2, 2005–Followap, the leading provider of carrier-class Presence and IM solutions, today announced the release of its iFollow Presence Platform for next generation networks, as well as the closing of Series C financing led by Sequoia Capital. The investment underscores the significant business opportunity involved in presence-enabling communication networks.
Presence enables communicating parties to be aware of each other’s availability and connectivity status. Presence is the key enabler behind extremely popular real-time communication services that customers will have experienced through their use of existing products, primarily through Internet messenger environments. By presence enabling an increasing range of communication services, such as voice, messaging and other multimedia applications, customers will be able to extend the existing behavior across a wide range of converged networks.
“Presence information is a universal service enabler, upgrading existing services and creating new service opportunities across fixed, mobile, enterprise, cable and other types of networks. The benefits and revenue potential Presence brings are significant and present a huge opportunity, which is only now beginning to reveal itself”
The new release of the iFollow Presence Platform is designed to operate over IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) core networks. Followap has already integrated its iFollow Presence Platform with IMS core networks from three leading Network Equipment Providers, creating an off-the-shelf, SIP-based Presence solution that also functions as a Group Management Server. The platform supports all Presence and IM standard protocols of 2G, 2.5G and 3G generation networks, including Wireless Village, SIP/SIMPLE, PAM and XMPP. Followap is spearheading Presence and IM standardization efforts.
“Presence information is a universal service enabler, upgrading existing services and creating new service opportunities across fixed, mobile, enterprise, cable and other types of networks. The benefits and revenue potential Presence brings are significant and present a huge opportunity, which is only now beginning to reveal itself,” said Haim Sadger, Sequoia Capital’s Board of Directors member at Followap.
The capital raised in this round will be invested in further increasing Followap’s market leadership in presence-enabling mobile and converging IP-based networks. Existing investors including Carmel Ventures, Star Ventures, ICTech and Koor CVC also participated in this round of financing.
“This investment is a vote of confidence in the future of Presence, and will enable us to secure our lead in the market and realize the potential of Presence in converged networks,” said Dotan Volach, Followap’s CEO. “Sequoia Capital’s unparalleled experience in accelerating high-growth companies and in opening up untapped markets, will greatly contribute to Followap’s growth and success.”
“We are excited to welcome Sequoia Capital, a firm with a most impressive track record of identifying and backing major industry trends, as a new investor in Followap,” said Rina Shainski, General Partner of Carmel Ventures, the lead investor of the previous round in the company.
About Followap Inc.
Followap is the leading provider of Presence and IM solutions to the telecommunications industry. Pioneering this field, Followap’s customer base consists today of over 15 network operators, including the Vodafone Group of operators. Followap has recently launched presence infrastructure and services at Turkcell. Its Presence Platform enables operators to establish advanced Presence enhanced services, whilst also creating the infrastructure for next-generation networks. Followap’s Presence Platform is part of HP’s Service Delivery Platform.
For additional information please visit Followap’s Web site at www.followap.com
About Sequoia Capital
Since 1972, Sequoia Capital has provided startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the “Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs,” Sequoia Capital’s Partners have worked with the entrepreneurs behind Apple Computer, Cisco Systems, Electronic Arts, Google, Network Appliance, Oracle, PayPal (eBay), Vitesse Semiconductor and Yahoo!, to name a few. The companies funded by Sequoia Capital now account for about 10 percent of the value of NASDAQ. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit www.sequoiacap.com.
Contacts
Followap
Kate Bannister, +44-800-0320275 (UK)
[email protected]