 | |
| Industry | Social communications |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 2005 |
| Founder | Touraj Parang and Philip Mobin |
| Defunct | June 14, 2018[1][2] |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Konstantin Guericke |
| Parent | Sabsebolo |
Jaxtr was a social communications company that melds together global calling, SMS, and social networking. Founded by Phillip Mobin and Touraj Parang in October 2005,[3] Jaxtr uses Voice over Internet Protocol to offer competitive rates as well as free international and long distance calling. Some key differentiators for Jaxtr in its market include allowing phone-to-phone calls to and from any mobile and landline phones, offering social networking focused on voice (café jaxtr), requiring no software downloads or access pins, and giving users local Direct Inward Dialing (DID) phone numbers. Offered in 56 countries,[4] these numbers allow users in those countries to dial a local phone number which would ring a long distance or international destination phone. Jaxtr also offers users a set number of global SMS messages each month.
Jaxtr reported having over 10 million users in 220 countries in 2008. In June 2008, they raised $10 million in a Series B round of venture capital funding from Lehman Brothers Venture Partners.[5] In the same month, they also launched their paid services.[6][7] In October 2008, Jaxtr laid off thirty percent of its employees, and its CEO, Konstantin Guericke, was fired.[8]
The company was located in Menlo Park, CA. [citation needed]
On 14 June 2009, Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia's company, Sabsebolo acquired Jaxtr for an unknown amount,[1] which effectively meant closing down the service as stated by co-founder Touraj Parang.[2]
- ^ a b "Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Sabsebolo.com acquires Jaxtr". Reuters. 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
- ^ a b "What My Startup Failure Taught Me About Exit Plans". Forbes. 2022-07-28. Retrieved 2023-06-09.
In January of 2009, amidst a historic global financial crisis, I had to find a way to sell Jaxtr, a social communication startup I had co-founded 3 years prior...We did manage to find an acquirer, but it was another private company who was interested in part of our assets only (namely, our registered users). Although we didn't technically end up shutting down Jaxtr that summer, the outcome from a founder, employee, or investor perspective was the same: Jaxtr, as we knew it and hoped it would become, ceased to exist.
- ^ “Jaxtr - Free MySpace Phone Calls,” Mashable. 14 December 2006. http://mashable.com/2006/12/14/jaxtr-free-myspace-phone-calls/comment-page-2/
- ^ See http://jaxtr.com/user/freeconnect.jsp Archived 2012-07-30 at archive.today
- ^ Kincaid, Jason (2008-06-24). "Jaxtr Finally Enables Out-of-Network Calling, Raises $10 Million". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- ^ Takahashi, Dean (2008-06-24). "Jaxtr raises $10 million to expand cheap international calls". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
- ^ "Jaxtr launches another new phone service". CNET. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
- ^ Schonfeld, erick (October 31, 2008). "Jaxtr CEO Is Out". TechCrunch.com, republished WashingtonPost.com. Retrieved 2009-02-09.