London - Nimbuzz, a provider of VoIP and IM services for mobile devices and social networks, announced on Wednesday that it has raised a $15 million second round of funding, led by Naspers/MIH with participation from previous backer Mangrove Capital Partners.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Jaxtr, a provider of Internet phone services for social networks and blogs, said on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in its second round of funding, led by new investor Lehman Brothers Venture Partners.

London - Nimbuzz on Tuesday introduced its free mobile VoIP and instant messaging service, which enables free calls, instant messaging and group chat on over 500 supported handsets across services including Skype, Yahoo, AIM, Google Talk, MSN and 23 social networks including Facebook and MySpace. Available now as a beta in the U.K., the service works on Nokia Symbian Series 60 devices connected to a 3G or Wi-Fi network, and also offers a hybrid VoIP for GPRS/EDGE, allowing users to make international mobile calls at local dial-in cost.

London - Fring on Tuesday said it has launched what it says is the first application that allows owners of "opened" Apple iPhones to conduct VoIP voice and chat conversations over a WiFi connection. Fring users can conduct free mobile calls over WiFi, as well as communicate with contacts from Skype, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo and AIM. Fring was developed in conjunction with the Holon Institute of Technology in Israel; a full release version of the technology is due later this year.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Jaxtr, a provider of Internet telephony services for social networks, blogs and other sites, has raised around $6.4 million in a second round of venture financing, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Boca Raton, Fla. - OpenPeak, the developer of a touch-screen interface and software merging telephony, Internet content and digital media on a reinvented "home phone," announced that it has raised $30 million in its third round of venture capital financing, led by RRE Ventures and Castletop Capital.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace online social network announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Skype, the Internet telephone service owned by eBay, to enable MySpace's 110 million users and Skype's 220 million users to call each other for free using Skype.

New York - Pudding Media on Monday introduced a new Internet phone service, which will monitor the content of its users' calls in order to serve them ads related their conversations, The New York Times reported. In exchange for giving up this privacy, Pudding Media offers calls without any toll charges. The service utilizes voice recognition software to analyze conversations and serve ads to a subscriber's computer screen while they are on the call; the company said it does not store recordings or log content of calls, and only serves ads pertinent to each individual call.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Jaxtr, a provider of Internet phone services for social networks and blogs, said on Tuesday that it has raised $10 million in its first round of funding, led by August Capital.

El Segundo, Calif. - Satellite TV provider DirecTV on Wednesday announced a partnership with Current Group to offer high-speed Internet and voice services over existing electric power lines to DirecTV subscribers.

London - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has announced plans to add the ability to place VoIP calls, video calls and voice messages to its PSP handheld game system, initially in the U.K., with plans to extend the service into Europe.

Holmdel, N.J. - A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against Internet telephone service Vonage, in connection with a patent infringement lawsuit filed against the company by Verizon.

London - Skype, a provider of Internet telephone services, plans to launch a broadband TV service next year, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

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