Buytel, the Irish company specialising in voice verification technology, has completed a £2 million fund-raising move. Trinity Venture Capital and other private investors have taken an 11 per cent stake in Buytel, placing a valuation on the company of around £25 million (€32 million). The company says it now plans to seek a stock market listing on the Nasdaq and Easdaq exchanges next year. Buytel specialises in biometrics, or digital authentication techniques, which measure physical characteristics such as voice, fingerprints and iris.
A significant boost to Buytel's valuation has been the introduction by Trinity Venture Capital of specialist language technology investment fund, Flanders Language Valley Fund (FLV Fund). The fund is publicly traded on Easdaq and owned by institutional investors including industry giants, Microsoft and Cisco Systems. Trinity has taken a 5 per cent in Buytel, while FLV now holds 4 per cent. The remaining 2 per cent is divided between a number of private investors.
Buytel intends using the finance to expand its customer base into new markets, and increase its distribution channels through telecommunications companies and software specialists. Last year Buytel had revenues of £1.5 million, but lost several hundred thousand pounds. It expects to record revenues of £5 million this year, and break even following an extensive marketing campaign.
According to Mr Patrick Keaney, chief executive officer of Buytel, the latest round of fundraising was five times oversubscribed but the venture capital investment was attractive in advance of Buytel's plans to take a listing.
Mr Keaney holds 40 per cent of Buytel's equity, while chief technology officer, Mr Vance Harris holds 20 per cent. The remainder is divided between other Buytel directors and private shareholders.
Buytel estimates the electronic verification software market is worth around $100 billion (€99.6 billion), of which voice verification software accounts for $5 billion.
Buytel's flagship product, Voicevault was launched last year. It identifies people by their voice over the Internet or telephone.
