SpinVox

SpinVox was a start-up company that is now a subsidiary of global speech technology company Nuance Communications, an American multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, United States on the outskirts of Boston, that provides speech and imaging applications. Initially, SpinVox provided voice-to-text conversion services for carrier markets, including wireless, fixed, VoIP and cable, as well as for unified communications, enterprise and Web 2.0 environments. This service was ostensibly provided through an automated computer system, with human intervention where needed. However there were accusations that the system operated almost exclusively through the use of call-center workers in South Africa and the Philippines.

The company was founded in 2003 by Christina Domecq and Daniel Doulton. The company had raised $200 million in funding. Company accounts for the company in 2007 stated that SpinVox made a loss of £36 million against £2 million of revenue. In July 2009, in response to cash-flow problems it asked staff to take all or part of their salaries in stock to reduce costs, newspaper reports claimed that many employees are owed salary payments and that Associated Networks Ltd was considering legal action over unpaid server charges, while other reports claimed that multiple companies were owed money for services rendered and were taking legal action. In August 2009, a dossier, alleging financial irregularities, was circulated to shareholders, leading to the company launching an inquiry into the activities of some senior executives. Unaudited accounts for 2008 show the group's pre-tax loss widened to £49m compared with £37m a year earlier In September 2009, Invesco Perpetual stated that it had written down the value of its investment in the company by 90% and that Spinvox was for sale. SpinVox was sold to US company Nuance Communications for $103 million (£64 million) in December 2009.