Tello raises $10M more to sell “presence” technology

Tello, the San Mateo start-up that is pushing the boundaries of “presence” social networking technology for businesses, has raised $10 million in a second round of funding.

BCE Capital led the round, with Tello’s existing investors, including Eagle River, Evercore Partners, Rho Ventures, and Intel Capital

We wrote about the company’s technology when it launched in January. It is led by John Sculley, Jeff Pulver or Craig McCaw, each of them a big name in the tech world.

It aims to enable instant communication between businesses that work closely together – manufacturers and their suppliers, commercial banks and customers, tech companies and business partners, etc.

The company operates a web service that allows people at one company to instantly detect the communications “presence” of people at other companies. Once people are invited into your network – and their communications devices or applications are registered with the service, you can see if they are using their landline phones, cell phones or are available via IM. Once connected, Tello users can share applications and collaborate in real-time.