Israeli mobile start-up fring was acquired by GENBAND for a reported $50 million. Photo: Screenshot / fring.

Israeli instant messaging start-up fring Ltd. was acquired by U.S. cloud communications group GENBAND, Israeli business daily Globes reported, citing unnamed sources who said the price tag for the purchase was about $50 million.

fring, spelled with a lowercase “f,” has developed Over-the-Top (OTT) mobile IP communications services that function on all major smartphone platforms.

Based in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, fring was founded in 2005 as a spin-off from UsefulApp Ltd. by former CEO Avi Shechter and two partners. The company was funded by Pitango Venture Capital,Veritas Venture Partners , North Bridge Venture Partners, and Venfin.

On the acquisition GENBAND CEO David Walsh said, “fring is one of the pioneers that helped change the way consumers communicate on-the-go… We look forward to leveraging the full potential of fring’s OTT solutions in the marketplace by pairing them with GENBAND’s cutting-edge cloud and WebRTC offerings.”