Ribbet Bought? Maybe Yes, Maybe No

Nothing’s official yet, but VoIP start-up Ribbit allegedly
has been bought by BT for $55 million. Or not.

Ribbit and BT are denying the rumors about an acquisition,
but Ribbit isn’t commenting on merger discussions. VentureBeat’s sources say an
acquisition is a possibility, but also leave open the door that Ribbit might
also be talking to other companies. Or there’s been a tentative deal agreement,
but BT and Ribbit are working on the fine print. Or news sites are trading back
and forth the same rumors and spin just to hike interest in Ribbit.

Silicon Valley-based Ribbit launched in December with a
Voice 2.0 developer’s platform and functionality including web page phone
calls, directing phone calls to a web page and transcribing voice to text. Ribbit has built voice services for
Salesforce.com, including a service combining mobile voice automation and SaaS.
There’s also a consumer mobile phone
play called Amphibian (which leads this reporter to believe that Kermit and
Cane Toad are likely to show up on internal documents, if nothing else).

Is Ribbit the only VoIP/Voice 2.0/Telco 2.0 play out there
on the block? No, there’s a ton of theme, including some bargain basement deals
on companies that have run out of cash.
Would BT do something like this? Yes, BT has not been shy about
acquiring companies with a good technology story; Salesforce.com might a key
here. Does someone at Ribbit have loose
lips? Seems like it …

For more:
- VentureBeat breaks BT
and Ribbit deal, updates with a “Don’t know.”
- GigaOm follows up on BT Ribbit deal

Related
articles:
Ribbit touts new
telephony platform
Adobe’s Pacifica
nowhere to be seen
BT
acquires two IT units from German firm