SAN DIEGO—Speech-recognition search technology firm V-Enable announced that it raised $6 million during a funding round led by SoftBank Capital and Palisades Ventures.
V-Enable says demand from carriers for its mobile search application is increasing. The company boasted that more than 75 percent of wireless handsets are compatible with its search technology, which lets mobile users search for content using their voice. The speech search interface software can run on BREW, Java, Symbian, WAP and xHTML platforms.
Currently, V-Enable’s carrier clients include Verizon Wireless, Alltel Corp., U.S. Cellular Corp. and Leap Communications International Inc.
“As the amount of mobile content, such as ringtones, music, video and other media continues to grow, V-Enable is uniquely positioned to help mobile subscribers search, preview and ultimately purchase content better, easier and faster than ever before,” stated Craig Cooper, partner at SoftBank Capital.
V-Enable said the funds would be used to accelerate development of its platforms and to ramp up its sales and marketing initiatives.
