Rebtel - History

History

• May, 2005 Rebtel was registered by Swedes Hjalmar Winbladh and Jonas Lindroth.
• December, 2006 Rebtel launched at Innovate Europe conference.
• June, 2006 Rebtel.com/en & service launched.
• September, 2006 Rebtel raises Series A round of $20 million in external venture capital financing from Index Ventures and Balderton Capital.
• January 9, 2007 Rebtel introduces partnership with Polish portal site Onet.pl
• March, 2007 Red Herring (magazine) announces Rebtel as the recipient of the Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.
• May, 2007 Rebtel.com/es in Spanish is launched.
• January, 2008 1.7 million created local Rebtel numbers.
• January, 2008 Rebtel becomes available in China, and adds local numbers in Shanghai.
• February, 2008 Rebtel launch partnership with easyMobile.com.
• August, 2008 Large operator O2 blocks Rebtel access numbers in Germany making it difficult for O2 customers to make international calls with Rebtel. Rebtel decides to go head-to-head with O2 by renewing all German number series for users.
• November, 2008 Rebtel becomes an official partner to the global numbers of iNum.
• September, 2009 The German Rebtel access number is blocked by the provider E-Plus, effectively rendering the service less useful for calls to partners not in the partner list. The situation is explained by E-Plus officials that "individual numbers which by generating high traffic impede the service are blocked due to technical reasons".
• September, 2009 Andreas Bernstrom is appointed new CEO. "Rebtel Recruits New CEO to Spearhead Expansion" (Press release). Rebtel. September 3, 2009.
• October, 2009 Rebtel launches the Rebtel iPhone application after a nine-month approval process with Apple Inc.
• January, 2010 Rebtel acquires part of competitor Talkster
• March, 2010 Rebtel launches the Rebtel Android (operating system) application
• June, 2010 Rebtel reports a 100% jump in revenue in 2010 compared to 2009, increasing revenue from $8 million to $16 million. The service also loggs its one billionth minute in international calls.
• November, 2010 Rebtel for Android is awarded with Best Utility App award at Swedish mobile industry awards Mobilgalan "Rebtel Awarded For Best Utility App at Mobilgalan 2010" (Press release). Rebtel. November 12, 2010.
• January, 2011 Rebtel reports 9 million users, revenues of more than $40 million in 2011 and a revenue run-rate projected to hit $75 million by end of year.
• January, 2011 Rebtel launches international calling application for BlackBerry "Rebtel Aims at Skype With Free International Calling on BlackBerry" (Press release). GigaOm. January 14, 2011.
• May, 2011 Red Herring (magazine) announces Rebtel has been selected as a finalist in Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the European business region.
• October, 2011 Rebtel launches second generation iPhone application with Wi-Fi and 3G calling support and reports 13 million users
• October, 2011 Rebtel launches its first application for desktop PCs. "Rebtel unveils Rebtel 2.0 app for smartphone, desktop" (Press release). TelecomPaper. October 14, 2011.
• November, 2011 Rebtel is awarded with the Swedish Innovation Award. Previous winners include music streaming service Spotify. "The Innovation Award 2011" (Press release). AF Consult. November 28, 2011.