Private Equity Solutions

TeleSoft Partners takes a four-million-euro stake in VoiceObjects AG

US investor sees VoiceObjects as well positioned in the high growth market for voice-operated telephone services

COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 16, 2004-- VoiceObjects AG, provider of the world's leading Voice Application Management System (VAMS) for voice-operated telephone services, announces a new investor. TeleSoft Partners, a US-Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm specializing in information and communication technologies, is acquiring a four-million-euro stake from T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom AG. T-Venture as well as the T-Com Venture Fund had participated in the second round of financing for VoiceObjects at the end of April this year. T-Venture is now transferring a part of this second investment to TeleSoft Partners as planned (T-Venture is a strategic corporate investor in TeleSoft Fund II). T-Venture opened up this slot for TeleSoft to allow for a US investor in the syndicate to help US growth. Shareholders of VoiceObjects agreed to the transfer during the second financing round. T-Venture and T-Com Venture Fund remain one of VoiceObjects' key investors. Further investors in this second round of financing are SAP Ventures and Wellington Partners.
"The basic business idea and the enormous growth potential in VoiceObjects convinced us. It is highly likely that VoiceObjects will take a key position in the high growth market for voice-operated telephone services with its Voice Application Management System," said Arjun Gupta, founder and Managing Partner of TeleSoft Partners. "Our estimates, especially of the North American market, make us confident that their voice application server technologies will determine the future. In two to three years, all larger voice applications will run on such systems, just like web applications run on web application servers today. Voice service providers using VoiceObjects' software gain a decisive competitive advantage because they can offer callers comfortable, easy-to-use, and personalized access to a multitude of telephone services," Gupta explained.

VoiceObjects is gaining a leading US investor who will play a strategic role as the company prepares to enter the North American market. "We consider this investment in our company by a US investor to be a mark of confidence in our plans to establish ourselves successfully in the North American market. Along the way, we know we can rely on the broad experience base of the partners at TeleSoft who have already succeeded in establishing over fifty technology firms," said Karl-Heinz Land, CEO of VoiceObjects AG.

About TeleSoft Partners

TeleSoft Partners is a venture capital firm focused on next generation communications and information technology companies. Based in Silicon Valley, TeleSoft manages capital commitments of $625+ million. Over the last decade, TeleSoft and its principals have funded and helped build 50+ portfolio companies resulting in 20+ acquisitions and IPOs to date with a combined current market equity valuation of $11+ billion. Example portfolio companies include Bombay Cellular (acquired by Hutchison), Catamaran (acquired by Infineon), Cerent (acquired by Cisco), Internet Photonics (acquired by Ciena), iWitness (acquired by Zantaz), Kymata (acquired by Alcatel), Lara (acquired by Cypress), Promatory (acquired by Nortel), VxTel (acquired by Intel), as well as the following companies which have had initial public offerings: Omnipoint, OSI, Provide Commerce, and SigmaTel. TeleSoft's Corporate Partners are AllTel, Bechtel, Comverse, and Deutsche Telekom in the US, Europe and Israel. For more information, visit http://www.telesoftvc.com.

About VoiceObjects

VoiceObjects develops and markets VoiceObjects Factory, the world's leading Voice Application Management Systems (VAMS) for fast and easy provision of voice-controlled services. VoiceObjects Factory accelerates voice application development and deployment. It enables higher service quality through built-in life cycle management, and allows for seamless integration of existing Web and back-end systems.

With the investments from SAP Ventures (SAP) and T-Venture (Deutsche Telekom) and TeleSoft Partners, VoiceObjects has three global players on its side. The company maintains a worldwide network of strategic partners such as Comverse, Genesys, IBM, T-Com, T-Systems, and VoiceGenie. Current customers comprise companies such as Postbank (Germany's largest retail bank), T-Com and T-Mobile among others. For further information please visit http://www.VoiceObjects.com.

Contacts


VoiceObjects Headquarters
Sabine Winterkamp, +49 2204 845-142
Fax: +49 2204 845-110
email: swinterkamp@VoiceObjects.com
website: www.VoiceObjects.com
or
VoiceObjects Inc.
Todd Coutu, 781-685-4608
Fax: +1 781 685 4601
email: tcoutu@VoiceObjects.com
website: www.VoiceObjects.com

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