WirelessCellcom
African mobile telecom company Cellcom Telecommunications Ltd. has received a $20 million investment from Washington private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners. Cellcom, whose operations are in West Africa, will use the funds to expand its network and operations in Liberia and launch service in Guinea and Sierra Leone. The investment is ECP's seventh in the African mobile telecom industry, following its taking stakes in MTN Cote d'Ivoire, Starcomms Nigeria Ltd. and Celtel Gabon. It also has sold stakes in Telecel Faso, Orascom Telecom Algeria, Celtel International and Sonatel.
Handango
Handango Inc., a Hurst, Texas, provider of smartphone content, has raised $9.5 million in Series C financing. The proceeds will be used to make smartphone content easier to browse, find and purchase online from a mobile device and to fund global expansion. Investors in the round included Institutional Venture Partners of Menlo Park, Calif., joined by Advanced Technology Ventures of Palo Alto, Calif., Centerpoint Ventures of Austin, Texas, NeoCarta Ventures of San Francisco, Pharos Capital Group LLC of Dallas and SSM Partners of Memphis. In its September 2006 second round of fundng, Handango raised $60.3 million. The company is a Web-based retailer of video games, transaction software, sports tickers and other applications for handheld devices, and also distributes content through carriers and hardware makers. --
Telecom equipment Holly Connects
Holly Connects of Cambridge, Mass., a maker of infrastructure for telephony and speech technology for carriers, hosted service providers and large enterprises, has received an investment from Australia's Starfish Ventures. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. The money will power the company's international expansion plans. The investment buys out of Holly's original investors and will provide additional growth capital to the company.
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