Nuance acquires SpinVox for $102.5 million

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Speech recognition giant Nuance has acquired SpinVox in a deal worth more than $100 million.

The move comes after rumours surfaced earlier this month suggesting that SpinVox was readying itself to be bought. The rumours followed a troubled year during which SpinVox was forced to defend itself against suggestions that it was humans, rather than its tech, that did the bulk of the translation work.

At the time of the reports, neither party would comment on the rumoured buy-out.

The acquisition is based on a $66 million cash deal bolstered by $36.5 million in stock.

“Around the world, the voice-to-text market has experienced tremendous growth over the last year, with a variety of innovative services being delivered by carriers and unified communications providers,” said John Pollard, vice president, of Nuance's Voice-to-Text Services arm.

“With SpinVox’s robust infrastructure, language support and operational experience, we will broaden the reach and capabilities of our platform.”

Once the deal is complete, SpinVox’s carrier services will be integrated with Nuance’s own speech recognition technology, with the aim of growing both the business and the size of its customer base, according to the company.

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