Voice Genesis Raises $650K In Bridge Financing, To Launch Product
6/15/2004

By VentureWire Staff Reporters

Voice Genesis Inc., a mobile messaging software company, said it has raised $650,000 in bridge financing on its way to a Series A round.

Pasadena Angels and Keiretsu Forum provided the majority of the financing. Individual investors also participated.

The company is raising $2 million in a Series A round of financing that it hopes to close in the fourth quarter.

"Investors saw the traction we got at the Larta Institute Venture Forum [in April], and so many people got interested in the round that we ended up telling them to wait for the Series A," said Mark J. Marriott, founder and chief executive o! f Voice Genesis. "But it took us 1 8 months to raise capital after we developed our prototype. The VC community was very conservative," he said.

The proceeds of the bridge financing will be used to build the data center that supports the server site and to purchase equipment. Funds will also be used to expand the company's software development and sales and marketing teams.

Marriott said that more than 20 venture capital firms have expressed interest in participating in the Series A round. Strategic investors Intel Corp. and Tepco, as well as two angel groups, are considering backing the company. The funds from the Series A will be used to expand in Europe, Australia and Asia.

Voice Genesis' flagship product Vemail enables users to access e-mails from a mobile phone and to respond by sending a voice message to mobile phones of the e-mail's sender. Voice Genesis will add a voice to text feature for responses in its third release, which is planned for June 2005. The company will focus its market on consumers until the second release, in December, when Voice Genesis will make the software available to the corporate market.

The Los Angeles-based company is planning to launch Vemail Sept. 1 and to offer it for a monthly fee of $4.99. The software will be downloadable to cell phone subscribers through distributors, including Qualcomm Inc., Handango Inc., Mforma Group Inc. and Tira Wireless Inc.; and from wireless carriers.

Marriott said that Voice Genesis initially wanted to sell its product directly to carriers but that investors advised against it. "The current business plan doesn't rely on carriers spending any money," Marriott said. "They will just make the software available." Voice Genesis has already signed an agreement with a major North American wireless carrier, and is currently in discussions with two other carriers.

Voice Genesis, which was founded in 2001, currently has 12 employees, most of them on contract, but all of them stockholders. It anticipates having about 20 employees by the end of the year, when it hopes to reach profitability.

http://www.voicegenesis.com