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| February 02, 2005 | VentureWire |
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| Voxify Raises $10 Million Oversubscribed Series B Round |
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| Portfolio Company: Voxify |
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By Erica R. Davis
Voxify Inc., a developer of voice automated self service systems, said it raised $10 million in its oversubscribed second round of funding for sales expansion and research and development.
The Series B round closed at the end of December, led by Sigma Partners, with previous investors, El Dorado Ventures and Palomar Ventures, contributing.
Voxify completed a $6 million in Series A financing in April 2004. The company, which was founded in 2001 is based in Alameda, Calif.
Chief Executive Adeeb Shanaa said he accelerated the second round financing due to strong market demand and revenue results. He added that the firm could have raised as much as $15 million, but capped the round at $10 million because it was all the company needed. "We had a number of investors that would have liked to put in more, that we had to turn away."
El Dorado Ventures was one of those investors. General Partner Shanda Bahles said her firm contributed pro rata, but would have invested more.
"Voxify has an opportunity to dominate," said Bahles. "They've proven their ability to deploy high quality voice applications in a short time with low cost."
Shanaa hopes the funding will take Voxify to break even late this year.
As part of its Conversation Engine, Voxify's automated agents engage callers in advanced dialogue to perform advanced customer service functions such as reservations, sales and account requests. These automated agents are used for customer service calls, such as fare finder, reservations or order status, and can accommodate customers with varying amounts of information.
For example, when making a hotel reservation, a customer can search based on city, date, property, price, room type, amenity and rating. After selecting a room, the same customer can complete a purchase via credit card.
While the firm currently boasts 20 to 25 customers, Shanaa expects to "more than double" that amount by the end of the year. In the travel industry, Voxify serves airlines and hotel chains including Continental Airlines Inc., Wyndham International Inc., World Choice Travel, a part of Travelocity.com LP and Pegasus Solutions Inc.
The company is now entering the retail industry and has already found a customer in Hammacher Schlemmer & Co. Inc. Shanaa said that the retail industry is a larger area for call center services, as measured by the number agents, compared to travel.
With its first full year of sales in 2003, Voxify quadrupled its sales in 2004. Shanaa declined to disclose revenue figures.
Bahles said the closest competitor to Voxify is Mountain View, Calif.-based Tellme Networks Inc., which also has a software-on-demand model. She called Tellme "high quality but more expensive." Tellme deals with high call volumes, while Voxify addresses both high and low volumes.
Voxify has about 50 employees, mainly in the company's Alameda, Calif. headquarters. Some of the staff is spread around the U.S. in satellite offices. |
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