Investors Bet Another $10 Million On Fring's Ability To Rival Skype (+ Microsoft)

Exclusive – Mobile communications startup fring, fresh off the heels of launching group video calls for smartphones, has raised a Series C round of financing from existing investors, TechCrunch has learned.

The amount that was raised is actually not being disclosed, but sources close to the company tell us that fring secured another $10 million in venture capital, bringing its total of funding raised to well north of $30 million.

We were also told fring’s annual revenue run rate currently hovers around $10 million – the company makes money from advertising and voice calling service fringOut.

The new financing will be used to further expand the company’s product portfolio, and to bring its video communication suite to a range of new devices and segments of users.

Fring says it is currently adding more than 1 million activations a month (with more than 40% of new users located in the USA), powering upwards of 10 million video call minutes per month and more than 100 million voice minutes per month.

Fring’s earlier backers participated in the Series C round, including North Bridge Venture Capital, Pitango Venture Capital and Veritas Venture Partners.

The startup’s biggest competitor is obviously Skype, which, as I’m sure you know by now, was recently acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion in cash.