eBuddy wants to be the lingua franca of web- and mobile-based IM.

The startup boasts a web-based instant messenger that allows people to chat on any of the AOL, Google Talk, MSN, MySpace, and Yahoo Messenger clients.

That chattines won eBuddy a new friend: Prime Technology Ventures. The European venture capital firm injected $6.5 million euros, or $9.5 million, into the startup on Tuesday.

“The management team's vision has produced a profitable business model that is well-positioned to capitalize on the continued evolution of web and mobile-device instant messaging,” Prime Technology Ventures managing partner Sake Bosch said in a statement.

The eBuddy messenger also works on mobile devices that are xHTML or WAP capable.

eBuddy plans to use the funding toward international expansion and development of its software. Research firm The Radicati Group forecasts the number of public IM accounts worldwide will reach 1.5 billion accounts by 2011 from the current 993 million. eBuddy boasts more than 12 billion monthly visitors.

Amsterdam-based eBuddy is a 2007 Red Herring 100 Europe winner and a Red Herring 100 Global finalist.