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MessageVine Raises Multi-Million-Dollar Round
By Rachel Nielsen
1/22/2004	Boston

MessageVine, a provider of software applications for instant messaging, push-to-talk, and other on-the-spot mobile communications, raised a multi-million-dollar second round of financing late last year, VentureWire has learned.

The investors were undisclosed. The Boston-based company also told VentureWire that in 2004 it hopes to expand its international business and to launch new applications.

The 2003 round is the company's newest venture capital round since fall 2001, when it said it had raised $6 million in its first round. That round was backed by Cedar Fund, CSK Venture Capital, Technorov Holdings, and T-Venture, a venture arm of Germany's Deutsche Telekom.

Aner Ravon, MessageVine's vice president of business development, said the round is still open. "We are in the process of raising additional cash," he said, adding that the money is "for growth, not for survival." He declined to say how much money has been raised in the round so far or how much funding the company has raised to date.

Separately, MessageVine said it has entered a strategic partnership with InphoMatch, a start-up that provides messaging applications and interoperability to global wireless carriers.

InphoMatch, based in Chantilly, Va., has raised $13 million in three venture capital rounds to date. Investors include Draper Atlantic Management, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and the Grosvenor Funds.

As a result of the signed agreement, InphoMatch will host and resell MessageVine messaging applications. MessageVine's software will be included in InphoMatch's service offerings, Mr. Ravon said. Also, the companies will offer support for OMA-IMPS (Wireless Village) standard devices over Internet Protocol and short-message service networks.

MessageVine has approximately 40 employees. The software company is hiring, but wouldn't disclose how many employees it expects to have by the end of the year.

Mr. Ravon said revenues for 2003 were significantly higher than 2002 revenues. The company is planning to deepen its presence in the areas where it already operates, which are the Americas, Europe, and Asia. It "probably" will be opening new offices in 2004, according to Mr. Ravon. MessageVine is incorporated in the U.S. and has an office in Boston. Its management is based at its Tel Aviv office.

http://www.inphomatch.com/	[see related stories]
http://www.messagevine.com/	[see related stories]