UppTalk, the startup that decided to enter insolvency procedures in October, has been acquired by MVNO Masmovil Ibercom and Venture Capital firm Inveready.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Novobrief has learned that Inveready will own 51% of UppTalk and Masmovil the remaining 49%. Interestingly, Inveready is currently a shareholder of Masmovil with an 11% stake. UppTalk (Yuilop) had raised more than €5.5 million from Spanish Venture Capital firm Nauta Capital as well as German Shortcut Ventures GmbH and Russian Bright Capital.
UppMobile, the app-focused OMV product developed by the company, is also included in the deal.
UppTalk entered insolvency procedures in October after the company was not able to right its ship and build an scalable business model. Something that co-founder Jochen Doppelhammer hopes they’ll be able to achieve now as they will operate “independently but integrated into Masmovil”.
“What happened over the past few months was a painful process but it also represented an opportunity to restructure the company”, says. “We have had some ideas on repositioning for a while, and with this deal we think we can build the product the way we always wanted to”.
As a result of insolvency procesdures the company has lost 50% of its employees. “We’re a much smaller company right now (14) and we hope this will allow us to mover faster and build a stronger business”.
Masmovil is an MVNO co-founded by Meinrad Spenger and Christian Nyborg in 2006. The firm has been quite active in recent months, merging with technology company Ibercom and Quantum. After raising more than €25 million in August, the resulting Masmovil Ibercom group acquired various assets belonging to The Phone House.
It will be interesting to see how UppTalk develops under Masmovil -it seems like a good fit- and if they are able to deliver on its promise to build a strong business on top of its cloud-based mobile phone and VOiP services. Second chances don’t come often, but UppTalk has found itself one.
