Reading-based biometrics specialist VoiceVault Ltd. has called in the administrators after funding dried up. Its business and assets are now up for sale.
The voice-based biometrics specialist is headquartered in El Segundo, California but has an R&D centre in the UK. The administrators are retaining its UK team of three.
Voicevault Limited entered administration today, with Andrew Stephen McGill & Gilbert John Lemon of Smith & Williamson appointed joint administrators.
The company’s assets include its voice authentification SaaS, which can be run from the cloud or on-premises.
One early funder, Mark Caroe, a partner of Eden Ventures, told Computer Business Review: “It simply failed because it couldn’t get enough customers. It’s disappointing but it’s that simple. The institutions like banks that are interested in voice-based biometric security move very, very slowly. We funded it about 12 years ago. Its technology – which is excellent – is not something you can really sell to small businesses. I hope they find someone, but I’m not holding my breath.”
VoiceVault Shareholders Unwilling to Fund Expansion
Andrew McGill said in an emailed statement: “The company has been historically funded by significant equity investment and now requires further working capital to move to the next stage of its development and fulfill its growth aspirations.”
He added: “Existing shareholders were unwilling to provide the future funding required without additional third party investment, which was not forthcoming, and the director has taken steps to place the company into administration to protect the underlying business. We have retained the small team of three employees to maintain the platform and allow the business to continue operating while we seek interested parties to acquire the business and assets of the company.”
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“We have already identified a list of potential interested parties in the sector and we are directly approaching possible buyers, advertising on a business sale platform plus using word-of-mouth marketing through our contacts in the technology sector.”
IT Security Products Up for Sale
The company has developed and operates a full suite of IT security products that includes its VoiceAuth: a complete Voice Biometric SaaS platform; VoiceSign: a custom IVR-based e-signature product designed for healthcare / insurance applications and VIM: an identity management system consisting of voice authorised password reset, out-of-bound authorisation and time and attendance tracking.
The company last updated its voice biometric engine, Fusion 9 in June last year, adding biometric modes that mitigate against new threats like synthetic speech attacks.
