Vivox Raises $6.8 Million For Voice Chat

Online voice chat services provider Vivox has picked up $6.8 million in a new round of financing led by IDG Ventures, bringing its total amount raised to $20.6 million since the company was founded in 2005. PRevious investors Benchmark Capital, Canaan Partners, and GrandBanks Capital also participated in the round. Based in Natick, MA, Vivox specializes in providing voice servies for online games, virtual worlds, and the social web across PC, video game consoles, and web-based social networks like Facebook. The company currently supports 20 million users in over 180 counties -- those users account for more than 2 billion minutes of voice chat per month. Vivox's customers and partners include CCP Games (EVE Online), Electronic Arts, IMVU, Linden Lab, NCsoft, Nexon, Sony Only Entertainment, and many others. With this new investment, the company added Phil Sanderson, managing director of IDG Ventures San Francisco, as a board member. Sanders says voice is the "key ingredient" missing from a range of online experiences, and believes Vivox is poised to fill this void "By delivering billions of minutes of voice per month to millions of users, we have seen first-hand how voice improves online communities," says Vivox CEO and founder Rob Seaver. "The web is increasingly social, and talking to each other is how we, as humans, interact." He continues, "Voice is an essential part of the explosive growth of the social web. This fundamental trend translates into an immense opportunity for Vivox. With the support of IDG Ventures and our other investors, we will continue to innovate for our customers and make voice part of more and more shared experiences online."