{"id":640933,"date":"2013-02-01T13:18:56","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T18:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=606717"},"modified":"2013-02-01T13:18:56","modified_gmt":"2013-02-01T18:18:56","slug":"chelsea-fc-owner-roman-abramovich-invests-70m-in-truphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/640933","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich invests \u00a370M in Truphone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian billionaire investor Roman Abramovich has plunked down \u00a370 million\u00a0(U.S. $110 million) for a big piece of London\u2019s Truphone, an international mobile operator that charges local rates for calls made in other countries.<\/p>\n

Abramovich\u2019s new 23.3 percent stake in Truphone isn\u2019t quite as impressive as his outright ownership of the world-famous Chelsea Football Club<\/a> (that\u2019s soccer to us Yanks). But the investment is a huge vote of confidence to an aging startup, which is on its second business model in six years. Abramovich\u2019s investment vehicle Minden led a \u00a375 million\u00a0round \u2013 it\u2019s first since its \u00a316.5 million\u00a0Series B in 2008<\/a> — valuing the company at \u00a3300 million.<\/p>\n

\"truphone-iphone\"<\/a>Truphone started out in 2006 as the mobile equivalent of Skype, developing handset software that allowed customers to place free or low-cost VoIP calls<\/a>\u00a0over Wi-Fi to international destinations and while roaming onto international networks. Rather than compete with other VoIP providers like Skype it partnered, supporting their services within its client.<\/p>\n

But in 2010 Truphone became a mobile virtual network operator<\/a> (MVNO), creating an international SIM card that access multiple networks in different countries as if they were \u201chome\u201d networks. The result is a service where customers paid the same local rates regardless of whether they were in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.<\/p>\n

Truphone plans to use the new funds to expand its virtual footprint outside of Anglophone countries. It plans to target the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Poland, Germany and Spain this year, but is also in negotiations with carriers in other countries to buy capacity off their networks, the company said. Truphone added that it would hire another 500 employees, most of which would be based in the U.K.<\/p>\n

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