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Siine, a software developer, has raised £550,000 (approximately $880,000) in seed funding from Atomico Ventures, a venture capital firm founded by Skype (News - Alert) founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.

Siine’s software is currently being tested in an alpha stage, the company said.

The new funding will be used to “evolve the Siine team, develop the product, and grow commercial relationships,” the company said.

Siine says it provides systems that make it easier for consumers to communicate “via touchscreens, vastly reducing the number of keystrokes required to use onscreen keyboards.” The marketing “pitch” “sounds eerily similar to Skype’s,” reported TechCrunch.

Ed Maklouf, founder and CEO of Siine, said in a press release that, “Our product addresses a very simple problem that faces consumers and mobile phone manufacturers alike. People are currently forced to communicate using onscreen Qwerty keyboards, which are fiddly, slow and awkward. Our software makes typing on touchscreen devices easier, faster, and more personal.”

Siine is based in Barcelona and London, and was founded in 2007 by Maklouf. The company said that prototypes of Siine resulted in early backing from angel investors.

Mattias Ljungman, a partner at Atomico (News - Alert), said, “The software will make life easier for consumers, and give a competitive advantage to mobile phone and tablet computer manufacturers that install it. We therefore think it is a true differentiator, and has great potential as a business.”

Marc Ingla, an angel investor in Siine and a former vice president of FC Barcelona, added, “Atomico’s backing is not only a validation of the work Siine has done so far, but also a vote of confidence in the ambitious vision of the company, which we believe can really disrupt the text communication ecosystem.”

Atomico has invested in over 40 companies. In March 2010, it started its second fund, Atomico Ventures II, a $165 million institutional fund.

In related news, TMCnet reported that Atomico Ventures invested over $500,000 of seed capital in Fashiolista.com, an online fashion community.

The fashion site was launched in Amsterdam last year, and has since gained worldwide popularity. According to a press release, its members currently "love" fashion items at a rate of over 1,000,000 items a month.