Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Report: CRV backs text messaging firm with $11M first round

By Mass High Tech Staff

Waltham investor Charles River Ventures has joined Helion Venture Partners in raising $11 million in a Series A round of funding for Webaroo, a mobile software and service developer in India.

The Webaroo product line consists of SMS GupShup, an SMS-based group messaging system for mobile phone; a web client for mobile phone; and Webaroo 2 for Windows, a downloadable multimedia feature. The funding was first reported online in June by India-focused investment blog PluggedIn, which said it had confirmation from both investors yesterday.

Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures has approximately $2.1 billion under management. Among the companies in CRV’s portfolio are Cedar Point Communications Inc. of New Hampshire and Nantero Inc. of Woburn. CRV has had its share of successful tech industry exits, including the July 2007 IPO of Marlborough-based Netezza Corp. (NYSE: NZ) for $108 million, and the September 2007 sale of Lowell’s Acopia Networks Inc. for $210 million.

CRV announced in September its hiring of board tech industry legal veteran Lisa Bonner Haines as general counsel to oversee all legal matters for the firm, including portfolio company financings, fund formation and employment matters.

In June, CRV contributed to a $38 million Series C financing of the creator of Jitterbug, GreatCall Inc. of California, which makes simple, easy-to-use cellphones aimed at providing wireless connectivity at a low price for older adults and customers interested in only basic mobile services.