Spinvox

Christina Domecq - Top Women in Wireless

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:00:22 -0400

Christina Domecq

CEO of SpinVox

London-based SpinVox burst onto the radar screen in 2007 when it announced some key deals with North American operators including Alltel and Cincinnati Bell. The privately held firm, which has developed a compelling voice-to-screen messaging solution, is the brainchild of Christina Domecq, the co-founder and CEO of the firm. Although not an industry "veteran" like many of the other women on our list, Domecq exemplified the type of drive and innovation necessary to succeed in this industry. And she's also one of the few women to head up a successful new startup.

Read: On the Hot Seat with Christina Domecq, CEO of SpinVox

SpinVox raises $100M from Goldman, no IPO

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

Despite recent rumors that voicemail-to-text firm SpinVox had tapped Goldman Sachs to pursue an initial public offering for the company, SpinVox announced today that it had raised more than $100 million in funding from Goldman Sachs Group and other institutional investors. SpinVox said it has no plans at this time for an IPO. The funding round brings SpinVox's valuation up to more than $500 million, according to CEO and co-founder Christina Domecq. The company plans to use the money to increase presence in North America and expand its services to include more languages.

For more on SpinVox's funding news:
- read this press release

Related Articles:
On the Hot Seat with SpinVox CEO Christina Domecq Interview
Alltel adds SpinVox to its offerings Article
Jim Kirkland joins SpinVox as director of corporate development and M&A Article

Spinvox considers IPO

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:56 -0400

Spinvox, the company that converts voicemails into text messages, is once again pursuing an initial public offering (IPO) or other fundraising options. The company has hired Goldman Sachs to handle the potential IPO. Spinvox launched in 2003 and now serves users in seven different countries. It expects to hit 30 million users by year-end. The business is reportedly worth about $400 million. Spinvox hopes to achieve similar success to its rival Nuance Communications, which is currently listed on Nasdaq and worth $3.6 billion. Spinvox's CEO Christina Domecq said teased the idea of an IPO last August. The company also considered an IPO in 2006 but dropped its plans.

For more on Spinvox's plans:
- read this article from the Times Online

C&L: Kirkland joins SpinVox

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:59:52 -0400

SpinVox appoints Jim Kirkland director of corporate development, mergers and acquisitions.

Meru Networks appoints David Kelly VP of Sales for EMEA.

SFR names Cecile Berger brand and advertising director.

On the Hot Seat with Christina Domecq, CEO of SpinVox

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:35:45 -0400

London-based SpinVox burst onto the radar screen this year when it announced some key deals with North American operators including Alltel and Cincinnati Bell. The privately held firm, which has developed a compelling voice-to-screen messaging solution, is the brainchild of Christina Domecq, the co-founder and CEO of the firm. FierceWireless editor-in-chief Sue Marek recently spoke with Domecq about SpinVoxÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s business strategy and the serviceÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s appeal.

FierceWireless: How many deployments do you have with wireless operators?

Domecq: Globally you will see nine deployments between now and Christmas. Between the Alltel, Cincinnati we have another Canadian carrier we will be announcing shortly. YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll see five deployments between now and Christmas in North America.

FierceWireless: What is so compelling about the SpinVox service?

Domecq: I think itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s the consumer demand that exists for additional voice services that are simply intuitive. ThereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s no training, no handset dependency. ThereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s really no application or downloading of an application. There are no barriers to entry for the consumers or carriers. There are no marketing dollars that have to be spent on training consumers. WeÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re also seeing it positioned as an enterprise service and a consumer service. It appeals to both sides of the spectrum. Carriers are reporting increases in voice and text traffic during their trials and pilots. WeÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re seeing somewhere around 17 percent increase in text traffic, and 7 percent in voice traffic all stimulated through the use of the service.

FierceWireless: There arenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t many applications that IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve heard of that would drive traffic in both areas.

Domecq: The most powerful thing is that after three days of using the service (during the free trial) we are seeing retention numbers of up to 80 percent. Every single carrier globally launches it as a free trial. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s an experience service. People talk about voice to text services but you canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t really get your head around it. But once they try the service there is a huge Ã¢â‚¬Å“wowÃ¢â‚¬Â moment. They try it for free, some carriers have a one-week trial, some two weeks or a month. We are seeing 80 percent retention rates on average when they go from free trial to pay. We are anxious with the number of deployments we have between now and Christmas to see if we maintain that retention rate. ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s an intuitive and simple service.

FierceWireless: What is the typical monthly fee for this service?

Domecq: It depends on the marketplace. We have a U.K. deployment right now which is going to be free because the call continuity that is generated is enough for the carrier to make its business case successful. We have some carriers charging monthly rates of $5 per month to $10 per month. Some are charging on a transaction-based fee of 25 cents per transaction. So we are still young in the market. We are probably 12 to 18 months away from seeing the market reach a standard in the pricing space.

FierceWireless: You said the service is handset-agnostic. Does that mean you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have a client on the handset?

Domecq: ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s correct. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s one of the enticing parts for the carrier. We integrate into their core network into their voicemail environment so there is no handset dependency.

FierceWireless: On the other hand, getting into the carrier core network must be a challenge.

Domecq: ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s not easy. This company was founded about four years ago and we first started selling to consumers because we needed a proof of concept environment. After proving the concept, watching the take up rates and the retention rates and watching the impact on voice and text traffic, we started working with the carriers and building the business case. But itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s taken about 18 months to build the carrier momentum. Between now and Christmas we expect to close another five significant deals, including a Tier 1 carrier in the U.S.

FierceWireless: How does SpinVox make money?

Domecq: We are transaction-based. We charge the carrier per event. Very similar to the SMSC model.

FierceWireless: You also have Skype as a client. YouÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re customer base is bigger than just the wireless carriers.

Domecq: Absolutely. We also have a blog product. Clearly we have found that voice is simply an input method into text. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a powerful application. We are using voice to cross the divide between the Web 2.0 environment and the telco space. We are positioning SpinVox as the glue between them.

FierceWireless: Are there more sophisticated applications on your roadmap?

Domecq: Yes. We also generate and push data revenues through MMS by embedding a WAP file. We also have missed-call messenger. Missed-call messenger is very powerful for non-voicemail markets or where penetration is lower. It drives call termination revenue for carriers. HereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s how the product works: If I call you and you donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have a voice mail, the call rings through. But instead we put an IVR in front of the customer, they speak a message and it gets sent from the customer as a text to the person on the go. We see it being very popular in the MVNO and pay-as-you-go space.

FEATURE: On the Hot Seat with Christina Domecq, CEO of SpinVox

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 06:59:53 -0400

DEALS: Samsung's WiMAX deal

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:59:52 -0400

Samsung inked another deal with Sprint for a WiMAX rollout.

DEALS
WHO	WITH	WHAT	SCOOP
Alltel	SpinVox	Alltel will offer SpinVox's voice-to-text service.	SpinVox also reportedly has a deal with a bigger carrier in the U.S., which it will announce later this year.
Sprint	Samsung	Samsung has inked a deal with Sprint to lead the carrier's WiMAX network launch in NY.	Samsung is also set to lead the build-out of the WiMAX networks in Washington, DC; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Providence and Boston.
Nokia	Microsoft	Nokia announced plans to begin preloading Microsoft's applications onto its handsets in 11 countries.	While Nokia's phones have been able to download Microsoft applications previously, this initiative will allow the applications to sync up with the handsets' features more seamlessly.

Alltel subs can now ask WHERE

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:59:55 -0400

Alltel Wireless announced the launch of WHERE, a location-based service application that provides detailed and customized information including maps and directions for thousands of locations. Created by LBS technologies developer uLocate Communications, WHERE enables Alltel subscribers to locate destinations like gas stations, shops, restaurants, hotels, ATMs, hospitals and schools in addition to offering information on local events. In addition, consumers may customize the app to receive local weather, news, traffic conditions, directions and ski reports. WHERE is available for download in Alltel's Axcess Shop for $2.99 per month. The application will initially launch on five phones: The Wafer, the Alltel Hue and u520 by Samsung, and LG's AX8600 and The Wave. uLocate also owns the domain www.where.com, an envious one for the LBS space.

For more on WHERE:
-read this release

Related articles:
Alltel adds SpinVox voice-to-screen messaging

Alltel to offer voice-to-text service in Q4

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:57 -0400

Alltel announced that it would launch a voice-to-text service from SpinVox in the fourth quarter of this year. The service converts voice messages to text and sends them directly to another user's cell phone. It works with any SMS-capable phone and requires no additional downloading. SpinVox has been developing the technology for four years, which it calls Voice-to-Screen.

The Marlow, U.K.-based company also reportedly has a deal with a bigger carrier in the U.S., which it will announce later this year. Regional carrier Cincinnati Bell already offers the service. In the U.K., there is talk of a launch from Vodafone, but the service is already available from Carphone Warehouse, which invested in SpinVox. The company's CEO Christina Domecq told the Guardian that SpinVox is always on the lookout for additional funding, whether private or an IPO. She indicated that there will be more news on the funding front come early next year.

For more on the launch:
- read this release
- also check out this article from the Guardian