Carmel Ventures leads a $10 million investment in Followap
Carmel Ventures leads a $10 million round, joined by Star Ventures, Koor Corporate Venture Capital and The Israel Corporation — the last two named as the company's initial investors.
Herzliya, Israel - January 31, 2001, Carmel Ventures, announced today that it has led an investment of $10 million in Followap™ Inc., which offers an advanced value added services (VAS) platform and applications to wireless operators. Additional investors in the round include Star Ventures, Koor Corporate Venture Capital, and the Israel Corporation.
Koor Corporate Venture Capital and the Israel Corporation were the initial investors in the company.
Followap has developed iFollow™, a carrier-class platform that enables wireless carriers to offer branded mobile instant messaging, presence and location services that are interoperable with their choice of Internet instant messaging services. iFollow enables interpersonal communication via channels such as SMS, WAP, voice, WWW, i-mode and STK. The platform operates on existing cellular infrastructures, GPRS and 3G. iFollow connects mobile and PC users, creating user communities whose members are able to effortlessly communicate with each other and view each other’s presence and location via all mobile and fixed devices.
“Mobile Carriers are investing heavily in their infrastructures and are actively looking for value-added services to offer their subscribers,” said Rina Shainski, General Partner at Carmel Ventures. “Instant messaging is widely popular on the Internet and is bound to become a very popular application for wireless communities, as well. We were very impressed by the Company’s ability to deliver carrier-grade solutions. Followap recently launched a commercial wireless instant messaging service with Eircell, Ireland’s largest mobile operator, and is currently in numerous pilots with leading mobile carriers.”
About Carmel Ventures
Carmel Ventures is Israel’s largest fund specializing in software companies. It is committed to helping talented entrepreneurs translate their vision and technology into successful global software companies. Founded by former software industry executives with extensive investment experience, Carmel maintains a low ratio of portfolio companies to partner in order to provide extensive active hands-on support to select Israeli, European and US companies. Carmel has offices in Herzliya, Israel and Munich, Germany, and a worldwide network of industry, strategic and investment resources. With $170 million in commitments from a strong investor base including Citigroup, AOL, Siemens and other leading world-wide investors, Carmel is able to provide significant capital and support throughout the growth cycle of its portfolio companies.
About Followap
Followap is the leading provider of Mobile Instant Messaging Presence and Location (IMPL) platforms for mobile operators. Its flagship product, iFollow, has become the world's first commercially installed IMPL platform in December 2000, when it was launched within Ireland's Eircell Network as its branded e-merge Messenger service. Additional installations and pilot trials of iFollow are currently underway in 15 countries, with additional commercial launches at the world's largest mobile operators expected in the coming months.
With significant telecom and datacom experience, Followap is constantly extending its core technology in new directions and continues introducing additional scalable and reliable telecom-grade products that provide state-of-the-art messaging services to subscribers while incorporating essential carrier interfaces, such as network management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), billing and more.
Headquartered in the USA, the company has an R&D center in Israel, as well as sales and support offices throughout the world. Followap offers full customization and integration services to address the specific requirements of its customers and provides extensive technical support and consulting services.