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 taskâ€. 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.â€
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.â€
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.