eBuddy

eBuddy has announced a Series B round of funding to the tune of €6.5 million Euros, bringing their total funding to €11.5 million. The round was led by Prime Technology Ventures (PTV).

While Meebo gets most of the press here in the U.S., eBuddy continues to dominate the worldwide market. eBuddy was listed as a top rising search term for Google worldwide in 2007.

Some stats provided in the funding release:

• 12 million monthly global visitors
• 1.5 million new network users added every month
• 1.2 million unique mobile users worldwide
• 1.3 billion+ advertising impressions per month

With data access on mobile devices starting to grow in popularity in the U.S., whichever company can figure out how to provide the best user experience along with the ability to monetize the chat will only strengthen their position. Both Meebo and eBuddy have iPhone versions of their chat application. I also wonder which one will tackle video first. Check out our interview with CEO Jan-Joost Rueb along with his tips for startups.

Meebo and eBuddy are always one-upping each other. eBuddy launched iPhone support a month ago, and tonight Meebo is announcing their iPhone client. Seth Sternberg, founder and CEO of meebo says, "Safari on the iPhone has enabled a new level of mobile innovation - it's the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device. Our application for the iPhone now provides a seamless experience between your computer's browser and your phone's browser. meebo truly is instant messaging everywhere!"

The featureset includes:

• Access all of your IM accounts through a single login and in a single buddy list
• Your chat history and preferences stay with you from any web browser, mobile or desktop
• No software is required - meebo updates without annoying downloads

It makes sense for early adopter Web apps to make iPhone versions as quickly as possible as the majority of iPhone users would be considered early adopters. I don't have an iPhone so if you try the meebo for the iPhone, please report back with your review.

Check out our previous meebo and eBuddy coverage.

Nielsen has published a report today which states that Meebo is the "fastest growing instant messaging destination in the last 10 months". From the report:

Meebo’s unique audience increased 354 percent, from 434,000 in August 2006 when it first fell above reporting cutoff to 2.0 million in June 2007 (see Table 1). Google Talk also saw triple digit growth in this time period, increasing 149 percent, from 904,000 to 2.3 million unique visitors.

“Now that instant messaging has become an established form of communication, providers are seeking to distinguish themselves with expanded access and additional functionalities. These recent trends in traffic indicate that users are excited about seeing where the technology is going next,” said Jason Lee, media analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings.

Oddly missing from the report is eBuddy. Companies such as Meebo and eBuddy are kickstarting the IM app market and bringing it to life. Both offer great services and have launched iPhone apps as well. Check out our previous Meebo and eBuddy coverage.

eBuddy has launched an alpha version of their app for the iPhone. The new Alpha enables instant messaging on the iPhone for MSN, Yahoo and AIM.

Some of the features include:

• Automatic detection – point your iPhone to http://www.ebuddy.com/ and it automatically recognizes you are using an iPhone.
• Scalable screen – whether you hold the iPhone horizontal or vertically, the eBuddy application automatically adjusts for a clear overview.
• iPhone friendly interface – we’re working hard to provide a simple and user friendly interface that makes instant messaging on the iPhone fun and easy.
• Multi network client – sign into MSN messenger, Yahoo Messenger and AIM with one buddylist.
• Send and receive emoticons – insert emoticons into your text messages.
• Custom fonts and colors – customize the font and color of your text messages.
• Robust Back-end – the client connects to our 150+ server back-end for a robust and secure chat experience.
• Parallel development – the alpha version is a special flavor of our new eBuddy beta web version. So there will be plenty of new features coming soon as well as support for more IM networks.
• AJAX framework – the alpha uses the same
  AJAX foundation as the beta web version, delivering the same A-grade experience.

Here are some screenshots (click for larger version):

Day #19 in the CenterNetworks Startup Tips Month come from Jan-Joost Rueb from eBuddy.

JJ's Tips

Tip #1 - Keep track of your business

'Every day we know our turnover rate. Any negative results are immediately identified and adjustments are made.'

Tip #2 - Use your entrepreneurial network

'People in your business can tell you what will work and what won't work. Don't be afraid to share your plans.'

Tip #3 - Being an entrepreneur means focusing on output

'You need to be able to work hard. Especially when your business is growing fast, but this doesn't automatically mean more is getting done. You need to watch out for this.'

Tip #4 - Be honest

'When I was in the US with Onno Bakker, our business plan was over taken by the market, we were honest about this towards our investors. As a result their trust in us grew that's why they were willing to invest eBuddy.'

Tip #5 - Trust in yourself

'Don't be fooled by investors promising mountains of gold. Be inspired, explore your values and look for local investors who are willing to give you space to draw your own plan.'

Jan-Joost Rueb is the CEO and co-founder of eBuddy, an online messaging service. Prior to his work at eBuddy, JJ has worked with Gramercy Telecom Ventures, Arbinet and Enertel. He has experience working on three continents and currently resides in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

I thought it might be interesting after last evening's post about the new Yahoo Messenger to take a look at worldwide instant messenger usage. So I called on my friends at comScore and they sent over some data for February 2006/2007. I also reviewed a post from KenRadio but ignore his chart as the numbers are incorrect (the text appears to be correct).

Come inside for the charts and my commentary.

TechCrunch has an exclusive story about an evening launch of Yahoo's new web-based (browser) chat application. So now you can access Messenger from the browser. But in the grand scheme of things, why would I leave eBuddy or Meebo for this?

While the average Yahoo Messenger user has no idea about these other aggregation services for instant messaging, the smart Internet user would have no reason to switch. Or am I missing something?

Though for the average Internet user, this upgrade might prove great. You can use both Yahoo and MSN chat buddies within the Yahoo window. TechCrunch notes that the new browser version will be limited in functionality to begin with. From the screencapture it appears like a very basic chat window. I would like to see things like Mail, and other widgets as well. Let me customize what I want on this page and I can see more value added to it over the eBuddy/Meebo players.

There is a screencast of the new version available on the Yahoo site.

Unfortunately I am not on Yahoo's press list so these are all the details I have to share at this point. If a Yahoo is reading this, feel free to add me to your press list. I am now on the list!

eBuddy has launched two new Beta programs today. Their new Mobile Messenger and Web Messenger have moved into Beta. I have played around with the Web version a bit and it is pretty sweet. Usually these online chat apps are average or on par with the master app itself, but the new eBuddy seems to be even more robust than using AIM standalone. Appears to work very smoothly and I will have a more detailed review in a couple of days.

All of the details are located on their Beta page and you can go directly to the mobile or Web signups as well. JJ (founder) told me they are only accepting a limited number of testers currently, so get your invite request in quick. I will try to pull his leg to get some additional codes for our loyal CN readers!

Check out our previous eBuddy coverage and my interview with eBuddy founder, Jan-Joost Rueb.

eBuddy just released stats at 3GSM that they have reached the five million mark with their mobile IM product. This is five million on the mobile side, not the desktop side which makes this even more powerful. I can't wait until mobile catches up in the U.S. Of course wireless carriers won't cut their data rates so who knows whether it will ever happen. 

Mobile Director Jan-Joost Kraal, "Instant Messaging on mobile phones is expanding rapidly. Over the last six months, we have seen an astonishing monthly growth from 5 to 33 percent. Since the introduction of this service, 5 million mobile users have sent and received close to 1 billion messages through our platform. Over 400.000 daily logins underline the market’s receptiveness for our Mobile IM services."

Check out my interview with eBuddy.

During the ad:tech conference, I had a chance to interview JJ (Jan-Joost Rueb), CEO and Founder of eBuddy, an online messaging aggregator. And he wins the, "coolest tshirt of the conference" award.