VOIP provider JAJAH closes Series C funding of $20 million today, with the lead investment coming from Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel.
Previous TechCrunch coverage here.
As part of the deal Intel will provide JAJAH access to their community of product dealers, OEM customers and developers, as well as access to Intel’s range of VOIP patents.
I spoke to JAJAH CEO Trevor Healy prior to today’s announcement. Although he was unable to shed any light in the particular ways JAJAH would be utilizing Intel’s patents for me, it was evident that it’s a step forward they are pleased with.
Healy did explain some of the other benefits of the new deal, aside from the additional $20 million in the bank. Having access to Intel insiders gives JAJAH the ability to better optimize their product for Intel Chips, both current and those planned for future release.
The deal supports JAJAH’s emphasis on mobile technology. From existing platforms through to ultra mobile devices that merge computers, mobile and wifi technology, JAJAH wants to be a first choice VOIP provider, and the Intel deal should help them achieve that goal.
On Skype the company tries to avoid the apples and apples comparison. As we’ve previously reported, JAJAH’s VOIP service is point to point, bypassing the soft phone of other VOIP providers by connecting calls between the caller and receiver on their respective land lines or cell phones. JAJAH calls itself the 2.0 version of Skype, Voice 2.0.
The call I took with Healy was using JAJAH and call quality between Australia and the United States was significantly better than Skype out. It is a good product, Mike Arrington called it a “killer VOIP product” and I’ll probably end up using it myself if they promise not to call it Voice 2.0 again.