Israeli start-up Rounds will make at least 10 new technical hires over the next year after raising $3 million in financing from Verizon Investments, Rhodium Ventures and Tim Draper. Founded in 2008 and based in Tel Aviv, the company currently has 15 employees.
The company's Facebook app, "Video Chat Rounds," allows users to video chat, play games and surf the Web with friends and strangers. "Our goal is to let people enjoy hanging out with each other in the virtual world -- watching a video, playing a game, shopping together -- like they do in the real world," said Oren Levy, executive vice president.
The company's app is built in Flash, which doesn't work well on many smartphones, so the company will hire iOS and Android developers to help develop its mobile app, Levy said. There will also be openings for user experience and interface designers, along with more Flash developers. Hiring could pick up even more in 2012 if the company raises another round of financing, which it is considering, Levy said.
Rounds currently only has an office in Tel Aviv, but could open an office in New York or Silicon Valley, Levy said. The company would prefer to hire employees from within Israel, but would relocate or allow remote working for the right candidates, he said.
Rounds has three million registered users and one million active users, Levy said. The company is competing in a market with two much larger players. One of the more acclaimed features of Google+ is its "hangout feature," which allows multiple people to engage in video chat. Rounds says that in the future its app will allow for more than just two users. Facebook, too, offers video chat through a partnership with Skype.
The participation of the two big Internet companies has helped Rounds, by promoting the existence and appeal of video chat services, Levy said. "User registration jumped 50% after Facebook launched Skype because more people were searching for video chat," he said.
Levy said Rounds hasn't focused on generating revenue yet, but plans to pursue a combination of advertisements, sponsorship or product placements, as well as selling virtual goods for real money.
The company's office was converted from an apartment and includes a kitchen, living room area, balcony and an honorary company dog, Schnitzel. "It fees like coming home," Levy said of the office.
While the company is not focused on an exit strategy, Levy said that an eventual acquisition was more likely than IPO.
Write to Joseph Walker at Joseph.Walker@dowjones.com
