eBuddy, instant messaging co., raises 5M Euros in first round

Amsterdam start-up EBuddy, a company that offers web-based way to access instant messaging, has secured €5 million in a first round of capital from Lowland Capital Partners.

EBuddy gives users a way to chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo accounts without having to install any program.

EBuddy says it has more than 35 million users worldwide, including 4 million mobile users. However, as we mentioned yesterday, traffic statistics in this area are unreliable, and it is unclear how eBuddy is doing against competitor Meebo, a Sequoia backed Silicon Valley start-up. The two are essentially neck and neck, depending on which traffic measurement firm you rely on.