IQ Capital has led a Series A funding round into Phonetic Arts which could lead to the company’s technology being used on computer games such as Nintendo Wii and Sony’s Playstation 3.
The early stage venture fund has invested alongside several prominent business angels including games industry veteran David Braben and speech technology expert professor Steve Young.
Phonetic Arts, founded in late 2006 in Cambridge, is focused on the development of technology which will enable computer games to generate dynamic natural speech.
At the moment all speech used in computer games is pre-recorded, and therefore limited in its scope. However, Phonetic Arts however, has developed new technology which allows the game to generate it as the game unfolds and in response to the action happening on screen.
The company plans to fully launch the technology later this year, and is target major games developers with a middleware package operating on all major platforms including Playstation 3, XBOX 360, Wii and PC.
This first round of financing will be used by the company to finish product development and achieve a significant market share in the sector.
"With realism being the key competitive driver in gaming over the last two decades, character voice responses is a crucial area where little progress has been achieved,” said Max Bautin of IQ Capital who will also be joining the company’s board.
“Having brought together a team of world experts in the field who have created a product with groundbreaking performance, Phonetic Arts is in an excellent position to change that, both within gaming and other fields where such systems are key,”
“We are very excited about this investment and look forward to working with the management team.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008