New York-based messaging app startup Chatwala obtained $625,000 for its seed financing round, VentureBeat reported.
Chatwala Founder and Chief Executive Officer Tejpaul Bhatia said the funding came from individual investors. There are currently six employees in the startup that allows users to talk with each other by using iOS or Android platforms, the report said. According to its website, Chatwala "exists to make communication personal again."
Unlike other platforms, Chatwala puts users in control of the conversations. Messaging services like Skype, BBM and WhatsApp allow users to engage in conversations in real time. With Chatwala, however, users are allowed the freedom to choose when to talk with other users. Bhatia explained to VentureBeat, "The back and forth is on your own time. You choose when to reply, watch the conversation when you want. It's kind of like a messaging ping-pong conversation with a split screen view."
Bhatia added that their app can already be downloaded on iTunes and Google Play and is already gaining traction as far as the number of downloads go. Possible investors who pour money on firms in the mobile messaging segment are also noticing the app, the report said. Bhatia said, "Our mission is to make communication personal again. Chatwala makes the conversation real. Over time, BBM and Skype have helped with face to face conversations. Video messaging is still in its early days."
A veteran in the startup space, Bhatia created Kaptur in 2011. He then sold the social photo sharing platform to an e-commerce firm for an undisclosed price tag. It was only last year when he rolled out Chatwala but told VentureBeat that before doing so, he and his wife did some serious "soul searching" first, the report said.
Chatwala is still a work in progress, with Bhatia disclosing that he and his engineers were thinking of possibly including a real-time video feature to the app. He told VentureBeat, "The mobile conversation space is hot. I am consumed with the idea."
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