Palringo – a UK startup with an instant messaging, voice and picture messaging client for mobiles which uses mobile data to bypass mobile operators’ SMS and MMS offerings – has raised $5m in funding, bringing in new investors ePlanet 
Ventures and NTEC. These have invested alongside existing investors Northstar Equity Investors, Prime Technology Ventures and Esther Finance. The Palringo client supports ICQ, GoogleTalk, MSN, and others. Palringo works on Windows Mobile and Symbian devices. (Meanwhile, you might like to check out Heysan which is a web-browser based app from a US developer which lets you log into MSN, AIM and ICQ via a mobile browser and work really well on an iPhone).[via]