Jibe Mobile builds a cloud platform and SDK/APIs that let app developers add real-time communications—VoIP, video chat and over-the-top multiplayer features—into mobile apps with minimal code. The platform runs on Jibe’s global datacenters and proxy servers and is optimized where the company has carrier relationships to improve real-world quality. Jibe recently exited private beta and has more than 500 developers signed up; the product currently supports Android and the company is working on iOS support and a planned WebRTC version. Future roadmap items include multi-party video and developer‑requested overlays and features, with the company positioning itself as a bridge between developers and carriers (including support for the Joyn initiative). Financially, Jibe previously generated revenues and took only an $800,000 angel investment in its earlier business; the new round is its first external funding for the current platform. The company operates offices in Mountain View, London, Düsseldorf and Tokyo and will use the funding to finish product work and scale its global cloud and developer/carrier support. Jibe Mobile is a web site, mobile app and Facebook app that imports Facebook friends as contacts and enables text chat from Java phones (tested on a BlackBerry Curve). The app lets users send “shouts,” share Flickr photos, YouTube videos and RSS stories, browse channels and search Flickr/YouTube without leaving the app. Shared items can be forwarded to contacts as text and short audio messages; shouts appear as emoticon-like avatars. The service does not yet allow uploading users’ own photos or videos from phones to social networks. Jibe plans to add support for additional social networks such as Bebo and MySpace and more media services like PhotoBucket. The company launched in private beta with invites for the first 300 signups and raised $800,000 in angel money last December.

Total raised

$9M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Dec 2012