Video chat app Rounds grabs $12M from Sequoia & Samsung, hits 25M users

Today Rounds, a cross-platform messaging app focused on real-time video chat, announced a $12 million raise from Sequoia Capital, Samsung Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and others.

Sequoia believes that, like a combination of WhatsApp and Skype, Rounds, with its 25 million users, represents the next wave in messaging apps: video. “We believe the next generation is about instant video chatting and interactivity, and this is exactly what we see in Rounds,” Sequoia Capital Israel partner Shmil Levy said in a statement.

Rounds’ multimedia-centric (I apologize for that phrase) approach to chat also involves games and video sharing — not entirely unlike Line, a fast-growing chat app from Japan.