NEWARK, N.J., March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – Phone.com, Inc. today announced it has closed an investment from ff Venture Capital to propel the company’s goal of increased growth. In conjunction with this commitment, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) has awarded the company an additional investment, for a total of $2 million.

The funding from ff Venture Capital and the NJEDA is an infusion of capital, which will be used to power customer acquisition and new technology development at Phone.com. Other investors in the company include San Diego-based hosting company TierraNet and serial entrepreneur Michael Mann . Phone.com was recently recognized by INC500 as one of the fastest growing telecom companies in the United States. 

Founded in 2007, Phone.com has enjoyed year-over-year increases in revenues and customer growth combined with outstanding service; customers praise the company for the number of its innovative, easy-to-use features, overall affordability and responsive and skilled U.S.-based customer service team.

“We are thrilled to have ff Venture Capital and the State of New Jersey invest with us during this exciting phase of expansion and innovation for our company and our customers. We are looking forward to implementing many new initiatives,” said President and CEO Ari Rabban . “ff Venture Capital has also provided advice, support and acceleration services on an ongoing basis.”

“We primarily seek out companies with extremely capable management teams and a compelling business model,” said John Frankel , partner at ff Venture Capital and board member of Phone.com.  “Looking at how far Phone.com has come, and its potential for continued growth, it was easy for us to decide to provide additional funding now.”

At NJEDA, Chief Executive Officer Michele Brown said:  “Phone.com exemplifies the type of emerging technology companies that we envisioned could benefit from our Edison Innovation Venture Capital Growth Fund.  The fund was created in 2011 to provide New Jersey companies growth capital to directly fund uses such as hiring key staff, product marketing and sales.”

Said Phone.com’s Rabban:  “We’re especially honored to receive support from a funding source named for Thomas Edison that encourages growth by innovative companies in New Jersey. We fully intend to flourish here in New Jersey and we are deeply committed to showing the NJEDA’s decision-makers that they made the right choice by investing in Phone.com.”

About Phone.com
Phone.com is a cloud-based phone company focused on the needs of small business and entrepreneurs, providing cost-effective solutions to all their business-communication requirements.

Partnership brings Bluefin’s secure payment gateway to Phone.com customers and Phone.com’s small business phone service to Bluefin customers

February 20, 2013 – Atlanta, GA and Livingston, NJ – Bluefin Payment Systems and Phone.com, a leading provider of U.S.-based VoIP and cloud-based telephony services, announced today that they  have entered into a partnership to make the Bluefin payment gateway available to Phone.com’s customer base and enhanced cloud-based telephone services from Phone.com available to Bluefin’s customers.

Bluefin’s payment gateway features debit/credit/ACH acceptance, plus recurring billing, a virtual terminal and a hosted payment page – all backed by security features such as tokenization and point-to-point encryption (P2PE).  The company was ranked as the 6^th fastest growing private company in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine in 2012, and today serves over 15,000 U.S. and Canadian merchants.

Phone.com is a twenty-first century phone company focused on the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs – providing cost-effective access to all the communications services needed to run their business globally. Phone.com was ranked twenty-third in New Jersey’s 50 Fastest Growing Companies by NJBIZ, and #262 on the 2012 Inc. 500 list.

“This is our first partnership with a web-based telephony provider and we are excited to have formed a partnership with such a leader as Phone.com,” said John M. Perry, CEO of Bluefin Payment Systems.

“They have an extensive customer base of small businesses, which is a prime focus for Bluefin, particularly in the software space.”

Per the partnership, all of Phone.com’s clients will have access to Bluefin’s secure payment gateway by simply applying online for a merchant account. Additionally, Bluefin will be able to offer Phone.com’s services to their base of merchants and more than 300 partners.

“Bluefin’s payment services allow us to present secure payment processing as a value-added service to our customers,” said Phone.com CEO and co-founder Ari Rabban. “Phone.com recognizes that small businesses need comprehensive solutions to allow them to compete in today’s challenging global markets, and most companies need the ability to accept electronic payments. We are thrilled to be able to provide Bluefin’s services to our customers, and delighted to offer our communications solutions to the Bluefin universe.”

About Bluefin Payment Systems
Bluefin Payment Systems specializes in providing secure payment gateway solutions to over 15,000 U.S. and Canadian merchants. The company provides debit/credit card acceptance, ACH processing, recurring billing and more, all backed by secure solutions including end-to-end encryption for POS transactions, transparent redirection, hosted pay page, store and convert processes and PCI consulting for large companies. Bluefin serves major E-Commerce merchants and partners with leading Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in a variety of industries to bundle payment processing with their software offerings, enhancing product value and increasing customer satisfaction. Bluefin Payment Systems is headquartered in Atlanta, GA, with offices in New York, Chicago and Tulsa.

About Phone.com
Phone.com is a cloud-based phone company offering a variety of innovative and economical business and home phone services for entrepreneurs, home offices, small businesses and individuals. Powered by advanced VoIP technologies, the company offers Phone.com Virtual Office for small businesses, Phone.com Virtual Number for individuals on the go, Phone.com Home Phone Plus for consumers and Phone.com Mobile Office and Mobile VoIP. Please visit www.Phone.com or call 1-800-998-7087 for more information.

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PRESS CONTACTS:
Danielle Duclos, Chief Marketing Officer, Bluefin Payment Systems
678-894-2638
dduclos@bluefin.com

Joel Maloff, Vice President – Channel Development, Phone.com
954-239-7243
jmaloff@phone.com