News - Conference Callings.net

Startup hopes to raise its profile in a business where size and loudness matter.

Audio conference calling specialist Vapps on Friday said it received a $2.5 million cash infusion from Azure Capital and a couple of its original angel investors.

It is the first VC investment for the four-year-old Hoboken, New Jersey-based startup, which offers Internet telephony and public network conference calling services. The company markets free and for-pay conference calling services to small businesses, non-profits, and non-governmental organizations, among others.

Vapps, which quietly secured the round a few weeks ago, plans to spend the majority of its new resources on marketing and R&D. “We need to accelerate our penetration into the segments that already use our services,” said Ben Lilienthal, CEO of Vapps. “Eventually we will move up-market, but right now we are well aligned with the Skype-for-business target market—the small to micro enterprise.” Vapps, which has 40,000 people subscribers in 50 countries, is one of the companies listed as a voice conference plug-in for Skype’s small business customers.

“We have done minimal marketing to date so we really think we can improve on what we have done to this point,” Mr. Lilienthal said.

Vapps is not yet profitable but Mr. Lilienthal believes that improved marketing will take the company closer to profitability.

Conference Calling is a $3 billion global industry that is dominated by large carriers such as Verizon, and AT&T in the United States.

Vapps also competes with larger, web-based conferencing specialists such as Premier Global Services, InterCall, and Genesis.

“It’s becoming more of a David and Goliath thing, but we’ve got some good technology and now some solid funding behind us,” Mr. Lilienthal said.

News Source : http://www.redherring.com