Cloud communications company Jibe Mobile closed a US$8.3 million financing round with participation from Vodafone Ventures, which it said will enable it to “continue bridging the world of standards-based communications and agile Silicon-Valley application development”.

The Jibe Mobile Developer Portal and App-to-App Platform SDK are said to give developers the tools to add real-time communications features into apps, supporting industry standards such as Joyn and RCS 5.

The company said that this can be used for the creation of “carrier grade” mobile applications in genres such as multi-player games, distance learning, remote diagnosis and healthcare, customer care, sales and service, and enterprise collaboration.

Amir Sarhangi, co-founder and CEO of Jibe, said: “In-app communication increases user engagement and creates new monetisation opportunities for developers.”

Jibe Mobile is privately held, and has previously been self-funded. The latest funding round also includes support from Japanese game company MTI and “other investors”.