Phonefromhere.com seeks funding saviour

AN award-winning internet telecoms start-up is calling for financial assistance to market its product after a small business fund has withdrawn its investment.

Manchester-based Phonefromhere.com had secured £250,000 investment from a regional fund for small business, in return for a stake in the business.

A term sheet had been issued and due diligence was underway when the fund told the company it was unable to continue with the deal.

Non-disclosure terms mean the company cannot say which fund had agreed the deal but it is understood the fund was due to close in December.

“They said that the fund had effectively run dry,” said general manager Georgia Brown.

“It’s very disappointing. We thought we were on the last leg.”

Technology consultancy Westhawk is behind the free internet call company, which won the International Innovation Award at the Big Chip awards in May this year.

Phonefromhere.com is different from existing voice over internet products because users just click on a webpage to make a call – they don’t have to install any software or create an account first.

Brown says the company had strong investment interest from a number of parties before deciding to strike the deal with the fund. 

“But now the economic climate is too weak to look for investment,” said Brown. “We’ve had to rethink and bootstrap the business for the next six months.”

Now the directors are concentrating on taking on consultancy work through Westhawk. “We have to pay the wages,” said Brown.

The company was going to use the £250,000 investment on marketing. The plan was to grow a user base so that new investors could be approached with a more progressed business in another six months.

It wanted to attend the April 2009 Internet World exhibition in London but can now no longer afford the £2,000 required to take space in the  Innovation Pavilion, a specific area of the exhibition for start-up technology companies.

Phonefromhere.com is now desperately looking for a partner or sponsor to shoulder this cost so it can “get on and get selling”, according to Brown.

“We are going to look more short term now and just get sponsors for this event so we can keep things rolling.

“We want to tie up with a company that has synergies with what we are offering or wants to show that it works with innovative start-ups in the North West. This event is in London but it is aimed at a global market.”

The company would be prepared to share stand space, offer logo space, and is open to any other suggestions or support.