The company behind Charge Messenger, previously called Bolt, closed a $1.7 million seed funding round, as it updated its Android and iOS apps and introduced a web version.

Investors in the round include Pelion Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Maiden Lane Ventures, Metamorphic Ventures and Cherubic Ventures as well as co-founders from Google Voice, Twilio and Slicehost.

The Charge Messenger iOS and Android apps have been updated to enable users to sync contacts and messages across all signed-in devices, including from its web messenger, which it has just rolled out.

One of the app’s popular features, GIF roulette, lets users add a GIF to their chat by typing “+gif” followed by a word or phrase. According to the startup, more than 18 per cent of messages sent on Charge use this feature.

Founder Andrew Benton believes “searching and browsing for GIFs disrupts the natural flow of a conversation. And even when GIF roulette brings back something wacky, that can often drive your conversations forward in different interesting directions,” according to TechCrunch.

The report also said the app is seeing growth in India, the Middle East and the US.

Charge Messenger’s blog said it is “pushing for a #dataonly future for mobile. Charge Messenger is just the first step in our goal to give consumers products that enable unbundling the traditional mobile carrier plan.”