OZ, a Montreal consumer mobile messaging company, said it has raised USD$34 million in a second round of financing.
Leading the second round is the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, a Canadian institutional fund manager. VantagePoint Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm which led OZ’s first $27.3 million round of financing, also participated, along with Fonds de Solidarite (FTQ), a Canadian capital investment fund.
The company’s software, downloaded onto cellphones, enables instant messaging. Oz provides the mobile IM software to carriers and phone manufacturers.
The company has now raised $61.3 million since 2004, and it’s not clear how well it is doing. The company has had a rocky history. It was restarted in 2004, after a post-Internet bubble dive. Previously, it had gobbled up an additional $25 million in funding.
The company cites a Yankee Group report, which says the consumer mobile messaging market is expected to grow from over $50 billion in revenues in 2006 to over $67 billion by 2009.
We wrote about the company here.
http://venturebeat.com/2004/09/22/instant-messaging-continued/
Take OZ Communications, a company that was dissolved last year after eating through about $25 million in backing. It’s now back in a second reincarnation — with help from Silicon Valley money. Yesterday OZ said it received $27.3 million from local firm VantagePoint Venture Partners.
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Roundup: KKR goes green, Sun reports a loss, RIAA chases co-eds » VentureBeat said:
[...] Intel’s push into low-power chips doing well: Intel said that demand for its Atom low-power processors is taking off and that the company is working closely with its customers to fulfill demand. The Atom chips are at the heart of new “mobile Internet devices” with broadband wireless connectivity and the full power of a PC in a handheld device. Intel is targeting markets such as Brazil, Russia, China and India. AT&T is launching TV on cell phones: AT&T is launching a new video service for cell phones that will cost $15 a month for 10 channels. It’s not clear people really want to pay for something they can get for free on a bigger screen, but the cell phone providers are rushing into the market. AT&T’s service will rival Verizon Wireless’ Vcast Mobile TV service and is operated by Qualcomm. The service will be available in 58 markets and will be available on a couple of phones from LG and Samsung. Channels include CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC2Go, and Nickelodeon. Two channels, Pix and CNN Mobile Live will be exclusive to AT&T.RIAA still chasing co-eds: The Recording Industry Association of America is filing a flood of lawsuits against colleges and universities around the country for illegally downloading copyrighted music. At the University of Cinncinnati, the number of noticed rose 13 percent in the past two weeks. The RIAA hinted that it is getting better at tracking down offenders. Oz Communications receives loans: The Canadian mobile messaging company has received $10 million in venture debut from specialty investment firm Wellington Financial, VentureWire reported. The company makes middleware for handsets that enables instant messaging on a variety of phones from Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson. It will use the funds to expand its social networking offerings on phones. Oz has raised more than $60 million, including $34 million in 2006. [...]