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“I think small businesses are neglected by most VoIP providers,” he continues. “I also understand why. When a service provider like us is able to raise capital, the inclination is to go upstream after bigger businesses. We’ve seen it with pretty much every one of our competitors. Even the ones that started with the goal of servicing small businesses.”
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In 1989, he co-founded VocalTec. Just seven years later, the company brought the world’s first VoIP product to market. Rabban, then at Lucent Technologies, joined Cohen at VocalTec in 1998. The duo has been inseparable since. And they have no plans to leave what’s become their home state. Rabban, who sits on the board of the NJ Tech Council, is thrilled with Phone.com’s relatively new home in the Hahne & Co. building. Much like the company itself (a “10-year-old startup,” as he playfully describes it), Newark is bustling with innovation. And neither the city, the state, nor Phone.com—now 120 employees strong—show any signs of slowing down.
Phone.com hasn’t had any trouble getting business or raising capital. Customers were lining up to sign up for their service when they were still in beta mode. And the company made state headlines in 2013 when it raised $2 million, half of it from Manhattan-based investment firm ff Venture Capital, and the other half matched by a line of credit from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s Edison Innovation Venture Capital Growth Fund.
“We’re growing. We’re innovating. We’re building new services,” Rabban says, his energy contagious. “The definition of phone service is changing. It’s not just talking. It’s technology.”
Headquartered in Newark’s historic and newly renovated Hahne & Co. building, the young company’s success is powered by Rabban and CTO/EVP Alon Cohen’s deep roots in telecom. Both got their start in the Israel Defense Forces’ telecommunications corp. And both have been in the VoIP industry since its infancy. Widely recognized as a founder of VoIP, Cohen holds five US patents, one for the audio transceiver, the catalyst behind voice over network products, and, eventually, the entire VoIP industry.
phonedotcom
phone.com “VoIP phone service has changed the way everyone communicates. It has allowed businesses to be more mobile, flexible, and save money. It has allowed people all over the world to stay connected without paying high long-distance fees. Plus, it gives smaller businesses an option to have reliable phone service, without a dedicated IT team and an in-house system.” —Alon Cohen, CTO
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