eBuddy takes €6.5M in second round

Funding round closed

eBuddy, which is developing web and mobile instant messaging (IM) services closed a second round financing of €6.5 million in a round led by Prime Technology Ventures (PTV).

Jan-Joost Rueb, eBuddy CEO and co-founder, said the company is showing strong growth. “eBuddy experienced a 50 percent increase of unique visitors in 2007 and now has more than 12 million unique monthly visitors. As we continue to grow from strength-to-strength, we are delighted to welcome our latest investor, Prime Technology Ventures.”

 “PTV’s support and investment expertise with worldwide mobile and internet companies will enable eBuddy to continue our fast-paced growth and international expansion, specifically in the UK and US, while focusing attention on new advertising platforms and increased mobile IM development.”

According to the market analysts The Radicati Group, the number of public IM accounts worldwide is 993 million and the market will reach an estimated 1.5 billion accounts by 2011. Meanwhile, research analysts at Informa estimate the global market for mobile instant messaging €7.4 billion by 2011.

Amsterdam-based eBuddy says it is in a strong position to capitalise on this growth with 12 million monthly global visitors: 1.5 million new network users added every month; 1.2 million unique mobile users worldwide; more than 1.3 billion advertising impressions per month. The company name was the seventh most searched keyword according to Google’s Zeitgeist 2007 Report.