Miyowa, a start-up based in Paris, raised $8 million in second round venture funding for its work in instant messaging and presence enriched Mobile Web 2.0 technologies.
Founded in April 2003 by Pascal Lorne and Francois Colon, Miyowa develops rich media mobile applications for mobile operators and handset makers. These solutions allow for premium service offerings over carrier data plans and devices, without entering restrictive relationships with social networks and IM providers.
Miyowa has also developed a communications protocol through an extension of the IMPS standard. According to the company, the IMPS extension delivers increased responsiveness and reaction by mobile applications resulting in bandwidth reduction by 50 to 80 percent on the operators network, increased handset battery life by nearly two times, and support for mobile Web 2.0 features such as avatars, social networking and advertising. The new funding brings the company’s total financing to date to $12.7 million. The funding round was participated in by Techfund, who funded Miyowa’s first round of financing in September 2006, and Credit Agricole Private Equity, a new investor.
Miyowa is expanding its operations into the U.S. and Asia by opening offices in Cupertino, California and Singapore.http://www.miyowa.com/
