Voice Search Firm Ubona Gets Series A Funding From Capital18

 Ubona Technologies, a voice-based search company, announced today that it has received Series A investment from Capital18. The amount is undisclosed. Capital18 is the venture capital and private equity arm of media group  Network18.

Ubona, a Bangalore based company, claims that it has developed “a patent-pending set of systems that can understand what people say, interface with real life applications and trigger appropriate actions in response, to complete the requested task”. It claims to help both businesses and consumers. Apparently, the system can recognise a “multitude” of Indian languages, accents and dictions.

Sarbvir Singh, CEO of Capital18, told VC Circle: “The critical point is that it works well with Indian dialects and has a very large vocabulary. We tested it ourselves and we see a lot of opportunity here.”

Ubona has set up Foodie Hotline in Bangalore (080-40700000) which allows callers to look up and connect with the restaurant of their choice by simply saying its name. It is now working with a wide range of corporates in verticals including finance, travel and entertainment, mobile operators and media companies to create voice search solutions for them. Singh said: “In about three months, you will see Ubona partnering with a large national brands in India. You will see very large deployments. I cant give the names, now.”

Ubona was founded by a team of senior professionals with background in mobile solutions. Jyotirmoy Chakravorty is the Co-founder and CEO. Capital18 has so far made seven investments which include a home shopping channel (HomeShop18), education channel, a multiplex company (Star Gaze), and an online education company.