WHISHER, a Spanish company launching the first social network
powered by a Wi-Fi network, today announced it has received investment
for an undisclosed amount, from Benchmark Capital Europe, the leading
international Venture Capital firm and Swisscom. The new service
enables people to quickly tap into the best wireless resources in
their proximity, while offering all connected "WHISHERS" free perks
within the application, such as Instant Messaging, file sharing,
direct access to local services and the ability to set up their own
micro community networks. The software can be installed in minutes and
works with all kinds of Wi-Fi hardware. Investment capital will be
used to develop additional features and to fuel global distribution of
the service.
The globally launching beta service will unveiled at the DEMO
conference, and will be live on January 30th at www.whisher.com, for
Windows, Mac and Linux users.
"WHISHER has a huge advantage in being an Internet business -
their Skype-like model gives them tremendous agility over other
solutions," states Klaus Hommels, Venture Partner at Benchmark Capital
Europe. "We believe their nimble approach will lower the barrier to
entry for people who can benefit from quick wireless access, with the
added incentive of building new wireless communities using IM and file
sharing."
"We're excited to be working with Ferran Moreno, having worked
with him and invested in his previous startup, a successful Wireless
Internet Service Provider. The team's experience and their pioneering
spirit towards building a hybrid model uniting the social aspects of
the Internet with wireless technology are extremely compelling,"
states Dominique Megret, head of business development for Swisscom.
"With Benchmark's company building expertise and successful
investments in viral Internet services, plus Swisscom's deep knowledge
of wireless ISPs, we have a real dream team to help us reach our goal
of creating a globally shared, free Wi-Fi solution that ties in the
power of community," said Ferran Moreno, CEO and co-founder of
WHISHER.
The investment from Benchmark Capital is being lead by Klaus
Hommels, who sees a potential for WHISHER's user base to grow quickly
and virally, much like Skype did. Klaus is a seasoned entrepreneur and
well respected business angel. Prior to joining Benchmark, Klaus spent
several years as a private investor. He has a successful investment
track record in European technology and media companies including
Skype, Midas Player (king.com), StarDoll and OpenBC. Klaus was
recently elected Europe's "Entrepreneurial Private Investor 2006" by
the three leading European education and research institutions IESE,
INSEAD and the University of St.Gallen.
About WHISHER:
Based on the belief that Wi-Fi should be easy-to-access and
social, WHISHER is taking a community approach to Wi-Fi by offering
the world's first wireless social network. WHISHER allows people to
access the best connections, share their Wi-Fi and roam the world
freely, chat, talk and share files at high speed. The company is
headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. More information is available at
www.WHISHER.com.
About Benchmark Capital:
Benchmark Capital is a leading international venture capital firm,
committed to helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies
which are ultimately focused on long-term growth. Managing US$4
billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark's partners take an
active, team-oriented, approach to venture investing.
The firm was founded in the US (Silicon Valley) in 1995, the
European office opened in London in 2000 and the Israeli office
in 2001. Benchmark Capital Europe has three funds of approx $1.5
billion and has made over 60 investments across a variety
of geographies and technology sectors. The European investments
include companies such as Betfair (the world's largest online betting
exchange), Setanta (the leading pay-TV sports broadcaster), Bebo (the
social networking site), and MySQL (the open-source database
business). Other Benchmark investments include eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY)
and Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT). Visit the website at www.benchmark.com
About Swisscom:
With revenue of around $7.2 billion, the Swisscom Group is
Switzerland's leading telecoms company. Swisscom is present nationwide
and delivers the full range of services and products for mobile, fixed
and IP-based voice and data communications. Visit the website at
www.swisscom.com.
