Benchmark and Accel Put $12M Behind Zlango
Zlango is a phone based application that has grown through close relationships with carriers, who see Zlango as a way to drive higher SMS usage or by a flat fee. Zlango is currently partnered with Pelephone in Israel, Orange & Cellcom in ESC, P4 in Poland, and bMobile in the Caribbean.
The funding comes close the Accel’s recent hiring of mobile expert Richard Wong, of early mobile browser company OpenWave. The relationship between the two firms seems to have recovered since Accel loosing a partner, Peter Fenton, to Benchmark Capital last April.
TechCrunch also has coverage.