<p>The enterprise social network Yammer may have been acquired by Microsoft for a princely sum in 2012, but that hasn't stopped Jim Patterson and Zack Parker from continuing to push the envelope.</p><p>The former chief product officer and senior director of engineering are the minds behind the startup company CoTap, which will soon offer a mobile messaging product for business.</p><p>This morning, the young San Francisco-based company announced that it raised $5.5 million in a Series A funding round, backed by Charles River Ventures and Emergence Capital Partners. It plans to use the funds to expand its engineering team and accelerate development of its "short message" (but not SMS) service, which has yet to formally debut.</p><p>The service will allow for one-on-one and group messaging, and will allow participants to initiate new discussions and access all current conversations from smartphones, tablets and desktops. The business angle? CoTap also has security and compliance features on tap (pardon the pun), with an eager eye for rolling out employee mobile messaging for interested companies.</p><p><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/cotap-lands-5-5-million-in-funding-workplace-mobile-messaging-7000016036/">Keep reading...</a></p>