When was Skype founded?

Skype was founded in 2002 and raised its 1st funding round within a year of its incorporation.

Where is Skype located?

Skype is headquartered in Luxembourg.

How many employees does Skype have?

As of May 31, 2026, the latest employee count at Skype is 591.

Is Skype a funded company?

Skype is a funded company, having raised a total of $26.8M across 7 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a $250K Angel round, raised on 2002.

When was the latest funding round of Skype?

Skype's latest funding was a $7.76M Series B round on Apr 16, 2010, with participation from 0 investor.

Is Skype a Communication Apps company?

The primary sectors of Skype are Communication Apps, Enterprise Video and Enterprise Collaboration.

Where does Skype rank among its competitors?

Skype ranks 3rd amongst 1414 active competitors, of which 135 are funded. It stands 9th in terms of total funding among its competitors. The most recent competitor to raise funding was Dialpad, which secured $50M in Dec, 2022.

Who are the top competitors of Skype?

Skype's top competitors include Slack, RingCentral and Zoom. Among them, Dialpad secured the most recent funding round in December, 2022.

Skype - 2026 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors

Q: Is Skype an acquired company?

Skype got acquired by Microsoft on May 09, 2011.

Skype is an acquired company based in Luxembourg, founded in 2002 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. It operates as a VoIP Software application. Skype has raised $26.8M in funding from Index Ventures and DFJ. The company has 1414 active competitors, including 135 funded and 149 that have exited. Its top competitors include companies like Slack, RingCentral and Zoom.

Sectors and market segments that Skype operate in

Skype serves in the Mobile market segments.The primary business model of Skype is:

Mobile > Communication Apps > ***** **** > ***** ******

Company Details

Skype is a software application that enables video chat, call, share videos and text messages over the internet. Skype to Skype calls is free while calls to landline and mobile phones are charged through Skype credit account. Skype supports conference calls, video chats, and screen sharing between 25 people at a time for free. It is a peer-to-peer system rather than client-server system, unlike other VOIP services.

Website: skype.com
Social

Key Metrics

Founded Year

2002

Location

Luxembourg

Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

$26.8M in 7 rounds

Latest Funding Round

Series B, Apr 16, 2010, $7.76M

Investors

Index Ventures & 20 more

Ranked

3^rd among 1414 active competitors

Employee Count

591 as on May 31, 2026

Investment & Acquisitions

Cleo & 8 more

Similar Companies

Slack & 1678 more

Exit Details

Acquired by Microsoft (May 09, 2011)

View Skype's full profile

Skype got acquired by Microsoft on May 09, 2011 at an acquisition amount of $*****.

Click here to take a look at Skype's acquisition in detail

Skype has raised a total funding of $26.8M over 7 rounds. Its first funding round was on 2002. Skype has 19 institutional investors and 2 angel investors.

Here is the list of recent funding rounds of Skype:

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Date of Funding	Funding Amount	Round Name	Post-Money Valuation	Revenue Multiple	Lead Investors	Other Investors
Apr 16, 2010	$7.76M	Series B	-	-	-	-
Nov 19, 2009	$50M	Conventional Debt	-	-	-	eBay, Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake
2009	Undisclosed	Angel	-	-	-	Ashton Kutcher

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View details of Skype's funding rounds and investors

The founders of Skype are Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.

Here are the details of Skype's key team members:

Niklas Zennstrom: Former Co-Founder of Skype and founder of 1 other company. They are also an angel investor in 12 startups.
Janus Friis: Former Co-Founder of Skype.

View details of Skype's Founder profiles and Board Members

Skype's employee count trend

Skype has 591 employees as of May 26. Here is Skype's employee count trend over the years:

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Top competitors of Skype include Slack, RingCentral and Zoom. Here is the list of Top 10 competitors of Skype, ranked by Tracxn score:

Rank	Company Details	Short Description	Total Funding	Investors	Tracxn Score
1st	Slack 2009, San Francisco (United States), Acquired	Developer of communication software for team collaboration and project management	$1.22B	Dragoneer Investment Group, Index Ventures ... & 69 others	89/100
2nd	RingCentral 1999, Belmont (United States), Acquired	Cloud based platform offering unified communication solutions	$44M	IVP, Sequoia Capital & 59 others	86/100
3rd	Skype 2002, Luxembourg, Acquired	VoIP Software application	$26.8M	Silver Lake, CampVentures & 19 others	81/100
4th	Zoom 2011, San Jose (United States), Public	Cloud-based video conferencing software	$157M	Qualcomm Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures & 18 others	81/100
5th	Agora 2014, Guangzhou (China), Public	Cloud based customer engagement platform	$55M	Coatue, Morningside & 16 others	79/100
6th	Dialpad 2011, San Ramon (United States), Series F	Provider of AI-powered contact center and unified communications platform solutions	$476M	ICONIQ Growth, Amasia & 43 others	79/100
7th	Otter.ai 2016, Los Altos (United States), Series B	Developer of an AI meeting agent providing transcription and summarization	$70M	Spectrum Equity, Horizons Ventures & 25 others	79/100
8th	Vonage 2001, Holmdel (United States), Acquired	Provider of contact center business communication solutions	$645M	New Enterprise Associates, 3i Group & 15 others	74/100
9th	Mitel 1973, Ottawa (Canada), Acquired	Cloud based platform for unified communication management	$1.01M	August Capital, Francisco Partners & 3 others	74/100
10th	Firstup 2008, San Francisco (United States), Series E	Cloud-based communication and employee experience management platform for enterprises	$127M	Venrock, Trinity Ventures & 22 others	74/100

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Looking for more details on Skype's competitors? Click here to see the top ones

Skype has made 5 investments in companies including Cleo and Rdio. Skype has also acquired 4 companies including GroupMe and Content Circles.

Here is the list of investments & acquisitions:

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Date of Investment/Acquisition	Type	Company Name	Founded Year	Location
Jun 21, 2022	Investments	Cleo	2012	Rockford (United States)
Aug 21, 2011	Acquisition	GroupMe	2010	New York City (United States)
May 02, 2011	Acquisition	3jam	2005	San Francisco (United States)