Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Yahoo, VC investors pump $20M into Vlingo

Cambridge mobile voice interface software maker Vlingo Corp. has closed on $20 million in new funding led by new investor Yahoo Inc., the company announced today at the CTIA Wireless industry conference in Las Vegas. The Series B venture capital round included existing investors Charles River Ventures and Sigma Partners.

The company will use the capital to fuel international expansion and continue its product research and development, according to company officials. In addition, Yahoo is expected to add an executive to Vlingo's board of directors, though no candidate has been named.

The funding brings the company's total venture capital raised to $26.5 million since its inception in 2006.

While Yahoo is a new investor in the company, the California-based Internet company has also become a customer, announcing today the launch of a voice-enabled version of its oneSearch mobile search client.

Vlingo makes voice-enabled applications for cell phones that allow users to activate enabled text fields using only voice prompts, including notes to self, text messaging and e-mail.

Vlingo was founded by local technology industry veterans Mike Phillips and John Nguyen. Phillips, a co-founder of Boston-based SpeechWorks Inc. (which merged with Burlington-based Nuance Communications Inc. in 2005 in a $221 million deal) holds Vlingo's CTO title. Nguyen, a former vice president of engineering at Groove Mobile Inc. (acquired last month by Framingham's NMS Communications Corp. for $14.5 million) serves as the company's vice president of engineering. Dave Grannan, a former general manager at Nokia, has been chosen to lead the company as CEO.