Fring Lays Off 20%, Says Business Is Surging

Israel-based mobile VoIP startup Fring joins the layoff parade by letting 10 people, or around 20% of total staff, go. Company CEO Avi Shechter says the company is doing well, though, and the layoffs were to ensure that the company had enough capital to get them past 2009.

Shechter also says Fring has recently raised a third round of financing, but declines to specify the amount or investors yet. Fring had raised $13 million over two previous rounds of financing.

Fring recently inked a deal with a European mobile carrier, Mobilkom Austria, and says they’re seeing 400,000 new downloads and activations per month, up from 100,000/month a year ago. They’re also trying out advertisements in the service.