Truphone secure $24.5m funding

UK-based Truphone have secured $24.5m / £12.5m of funding led by pan-European venture capitalist Wellington Partners. The new funding is going to be used to help Truphone develop new technologies for WiFi-enabled mobiles that will enable users to make cheap internet phone calls.

Truphone are a truly disruptive force within the mobile market. Installing their software on a mobile allows users to make a free call from their mobile to another Truphone user via Voice over IP technology. Like many softphones, Truphone also allows users to make cheap calls to non-Truphone telephone numbers worldwide.

In October 2006 Truphone announced a deal with Nokia where their software would run on Nokia N80 phones, connecting to the internet via integrated WiFi.