RICHARDSON, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 11, 2003–
Existing Investors, lead by Austin Ventures, Validate
VocalData’s Product Excellence and Customer Successes in
Rapidly Growing Hosted IP Telephony Market
VocalData Inc., an application developer of hosted IP telephony services, today announced that it has secured $12.5 million in Series C funding. Austin Ventures, one of the most established technology venture capital firms in the nation, leads existing investors Trinity Ventures, Seed Capital Partners L.P., Hickory Ventures, and JP Morgan Partners in the round, which is expected to fund VocalData through to positive cash flow. VocalData has raised $60 million in funding to date.
VocalData’s flagship product VOISS is a feature-rich, standards-based voice application server that enables service providers to supply businesses with IP Centrex, hosted PBX, VoIP VPN, and enhanced services such as conferencing and unified messaging. By tapping into the hosted PBX capabilities delivered by a service provider using the VocalData platform, businesses see a 25% reduction in their communications costs by avoiding the upfront expense of a PBX.
“VocalData is hitting on all cylinders–product, customers, and prudent financial management–which is particularly impressive in a challenging market,” said Ed Olkkola, general partner, Austin Ventures. “We are confident that VocalData will maintain market leadership as the industry migrates to next-generation networks.”
VocalData’s U.S. customers have the most widely deployed hosted IP telephony services, reaching more than 30 cities and the most potential customers. In addition, VocalData has the leadership position in the fast-growing IP telephony market in Japan, where more than half of VocalData’s installed base is located. VocalData will use its Series C funding to expand existing sales efforts, build up additional international distribution channels, and strengthen customer-engineering support.
“In today’s difficult economy, service providers are faced with the conflicting objectives of minimizing capital expenditures while also seeking new revenue growth,” said Michael Camp, CEO and president, VocalData. “VocalData enables new revenues via enhanced features and services, while providing an integrated application suite at a cost that is 30% below competitive offerings. We have the right product, at the right time, with the right amount of investment backing.”
According to Christin Flynn, director of the Yankee Group, “We’ve been watching VocalData for a long time and are impressed with the momentum the company has achieved with customers across the globe. VocalData’s market segment is attractive, particularly because it represents one of the earlier steps in the path to convergence. VocalData is in an enviable position as the market expands to more than $1.5 billion by 2007.”
About Austin Ventures
Austin Ventures has been working with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies since 1979. With $2.4 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital firm in Texas, and one of the most established in the nation. With a focus on enterprise software, computer and communications hardware, and business services, Austin Ventures invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 “planned experiments” to $50+ million investments in management buyouts. More information can be found at www.austinventures.com.
About Seed Capital Partners
Seed Capital Partners was formed in 1992 to pursue early-stage technology investments in the southwestern United States. The Partnership manages approximately $20 million of capital and is focused on identifying and investing in high-growth entrepreneurial companies. Of greatest interest to the partnership are companies within the software, internet, and communications industries which leverage enabling technologies to solve business problems. www.seedco.com.
About Trinity Ventures
Founded in 1986, Trinity Ventures (www.trinityventures.com) is a value-added investor that provides capital, networks and resources to early-stage software, communications, and enterprise systems companies that offer critical infrastructure and services. Trinity’s focus is to accelerate growth and improve the probability of long-term success for the companies in its portfolio by being an active, accessible partner. With more than $1 billion under management, Trinity Ventures has a proven track record of working in close collaboration with entrepreneurs to build lasting companies. More information is available at http://www.trinityventures.com/.
About VocalData
VocalData, Inc. provides an integrated suite of hosted IP telephony applications that enable service providers to reliably and cost-effectively deliver voice-over-IP solutions. VocalData’s award-winning VOISS solution is a comprehensive set of hosted PBX and IP Centrex applications that delivers higher value telephony services to business customers, while reducing the costs associated with traditional PBX telephony systems. Through VocalData’s broad customer and partner base, there are more than 35,000 VOISS lines today. VocalData was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Richardson, TX. For more information, visit www.vocaldata.com.
VOISS is a trademark of VocalData, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.
