Xobni takes funding from….Cisco?
I knew Xobni was looking to raise another round, it has been in the works for a while. I thought they were going to either add another VC firm or just do an internal round with existing investors. So imagine my surprise when I read that Xobni took money from Cisco Systems for the B Round! I don’t really understand why they would chose to partner specifically with Cisco. If they were looking for a long term partner to build the company I can’t imagine this is a smart move. My guess is that money was tight and they needed cash so the short term focus pushed them to whoever would give them the most but ask for the least, maybe that was Cisco.
When I first demo’d Xobni, about a year ago, my first reaction was that MS will buy them to integrate with Outlook. It just seemed to be the natural progression. Xobni has a product, not a business so I expected it to be looking for a buy out ASAP. I imagine the Cisco funding is not going to help the buy out options though. Interesting.
My experience with Xobni has been ok. A few other users in the office have not had quite as positive an experience, chalking Outlook slowness and hanging to the Xobni plugin. If your inbox is a disaster, go give it a whirl and see what you think.
Filed under: Investments | 2 Comments
Tags: Cisco, fundraising, series b, xobni
Techdulla 
Why wouldn’t that be a smart move?
Taking money and partnering with Cisco shows that they are very interested in targeting the enterprise. Problem is many/most enterprises lock down the desktop so that users can’t just install any software they want. Are they going to integrate with Cisco and become an offering? Will clients actually pay for Xobni? I don’t think so.
They should have taken the money from MS when they went through the acquisition process early in 2008. Buyout from MS was probably the best bang for their buck. Taking more money, makes the exit that much more difficult. Add Cisco into the mix and exiting from another acquisition offer limits the options.
I’ve been wrong before, but I don’t see Cisco as the best partner for Xobni. Only time will tell.