Israeli start-up Zlango Ltd. has raised $12 million in its first financing round from Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital.
Zlango was founded in 2003, and earlier raised $6 million from Brooks-Keret Private Investors Group and private investors, including Aviv Venture Capital managing partner Yoav Chelouche and Adv. Eran Ilan.
Zlango is developing a new icons language. The company already has over 200 icons, divided into intuitive categories. The Zlango language is suited for most cellular devices that use CDMA or GSM networks. A ZMS message (Zlango SMS) is sent via SMS or cellular Internet infrastructures using a designated server. Pele-Phone Communications Ltd.’s Escape network and Partner Communications Ltd.’s (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR; LSE:PCCD) Orange were the first to commercially launch the service.
Zlango founder and CEO Yoav Lorch said, “We’re pleased that Accel Partners and Benchmark Capital are coming to work with us. They are important and smart companies that are bringing a lot of money. Zlango is small now, but it will be great in the future. The whole world is talking about Zlango and is interested in us.”
Accel Partners general partner Kaj-Erik Relander will join Zlango’s board. He said, “When people see Zlango, they’re surprised and they laugh. When I asked my children, they immediately said that they wanted to use it. I believe that a lot of people will be using this language in the near future.”
Benchmark Capital partner Michael Eisenberg said, “We hope and believe that Zlango is a great idea that can work on the Internet and chat rooms, as well as on cellular. Zlango is a hot item that always causes people to laugh. The world has become global, and Zlango is a language that can bridge between languages, enabling surfers and chatters to speak in the same language with people in other countries.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 12, 2007
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