iSkoot

Company name: iSkoot
Where it's based: Cambridge, Mass.
When it was founded: 2005
Year it was a Fierce 15: 2007
Website: www.iskoot.com

Why it was a Fierce 15: iSkoot aimed to do in the mobile world what Skype has done in the fixed broadband world. In fact, Skype worked with iSkoot to reach the mobile community. iSkoot entered into a co-marketing and development partnership with Skype and landed its first mobile carrier for its Skype-to-mobile service with The 3 Group in the U.K. iSkoot's free software solution worked on a select number of Motorola, Nokia and Palm devices. iSkoot provided fixed-mobile convergence without the heavy costs. Click here for more.

What has happened since it was awarded the Fierce 15: iSkoot is still involved with Skype, but its business model has expanded to incorporate other mobile Internet services, and not just mobile VoIP. iSkoot uses proxy servers to offload computing needs from the device to the cloud, allowing the company to deliver mobile Internet services such as Facebook, Twitter and RSS to a wide range of devices. The company's biggest coup was being selected by AT&T for the carrier's Social Net offering, a social networking aggregator application. In November 2008, the company raised $19 million in a Series C funding round.