Mike Mann’s Phone.com Raises $2 Million in Funding

I wanted to share a press release announcing that Phone.com received $2 million in funding from a company called ff Venture Capital and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Phone.com is a company that was founded by domain investor Mike Mann, and it was listed in the 2012 Inc. 500 among the fastest growing companies in the US.

The press release shared additional information about the company and how the funds will be used:

“The funding from ff Venture Capital and the NJEDA is an infusion of capital, which will be used to power customer acquisition and new technology development at Phone.com. Other investors in the company include San Diego-based hosting company TierraNet and serial entrepreneur Michael Mann. Phone.com was recently recognized by INC500 as one of the fastest growing telecom companies in the United States.”

I looked at ff Venture Capital’s list of investments, and it appears that three of its current investments operate on great exact match domain names, including Alerts.com, Identified.com, and Patents.com. The company has had exits from Software.com (acquired by Startive), Track.com (acquired by Concepts and the .TV Registry (acquired by Verisign).

Thanks to Domain Agents for sharing this with me.

The press release is posted below if you’d like more information about this deal.

Phone.com, Inc. today announced it has closed an investment from ff Venture Capital to propel the company’s goal of increased growth. In conjunction with this commitment, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) has awarded the company an additional investment, for a total of $2 million.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121002/NY84926LOGO)

The funding from ff Venture Capital and the NJEDA is an infusion of capital, which will be used to power customer acquisition and new technology development at Phone.com. Other investors in the company include San Diego-based hosting company TierraNet and serial entrepreneur Michael Mann. Phone.com was recently recognized by INC500 as one of the fastest growing telecom companies in the United States.

Founded in 2007, Phone.com has enjoyed year-over-year increases in revenues and customer growth combined with outstanding service; customers praise the company for the number of its innovative, easy-to-use features, overall affordability and responsive and skilled U.S.-based customer service team.

“We are thrilled to have ff Venture Capital and the State of New Jersey invest with us during this exciting phase of expansion and innovation for our company and our customers. We are looking forward to implementing many new initiatives,” said President and CEO Ari Rabban. “ff Venture Capital has also provided advice, support and acceleration services on an ongoing basis.”

“We primarily seek out companies with extremely capable management teams and a compelling business model,” said John Frankel, partner at ff Venture Capital and board member of Phone.com. “Looking at how far Phone.com has come, and its potential for continued growth, it was easy for us to decide to provide additional funding now.”

At NJEDA, Chief Executive Officer Michele Brown said: “Phone.com exemplifies the type of emerging technology companies that we envisioned could benefit from our Edison Innovation Venture Capital Growth Fund. The fund was created in 2011 to provide New Jersey companies growth capital to directly fund uses such as hiring key staff, product marketing and sales.”

Said Phone.com’s Rabban: “We’re especially honored to receive support from a funding source named for Thomas Edison that encourages growth by innovative companies in New Jersey. We fully intend to flourish here in New Jersey and we are deeply committed to showing the NJEDA’s decision-makers that they made the right choice by investing in Phone.com.”

About Phone.com Phone.com is a cloud-based phone company focused on the needs of small business and entrepreneurs, providing cost-effective solutions to all their business-communication requirements.