IntelePeer gets $18M

What does IntelePeer do that all the other "I can make a phone call within a web app" companies don't? Whatever it is, it seems to be worth $18 million in third round venture money lead by Vantage Point.

According to Venture Beat, IntelePeer is sorta like Ribbit. The company has its AppworX open communications platform and a voice peering grid network (OK, Ribbit didn't have a voice peering grid, me thinks) so app developers have the ability to create rich media services while using IntelePeer's hosted services to save money.

IntelePeer is calling its offering a CaaS - Communications as a Service. Customers get to tap into the combo of Web 2.0 and Voice 2.0 capabilities on top of the company's carrier-grade telecommunications voice peering network, and there's a network peering grid infrastructure that reportedly handles "billions" of voice minutes per year and has direct connections with more 50 service providers around the globe.

Don't think Ribbit had the whole voice grid peering thing going...

Anyway, IntelePeer claims Microsoft, WebEx, BT, AT&T, Verizon, Facebook and TMCnet as customers, with the main hook so far being a click-to-call feature within various web apps.

Formerly named VoEx, other investors include EDF Ventures, Kennet Venture Partners, and NorthCap Partners.

For more:
- IntelePeer gets the attention of VentureBeat. Post [1].