Phonetic Arts has secured first-round funding from VC fund IQ Capital and several prominent business angels, including games industry veteran David Braben and speech technology expert Professor Steve Young. The financing will be used to complete product development and commercialise its speech synthesis technology.

Cambridge-based Phonetic Arts’ new technology will enable computer games to generate natural speech. All speech currently used in these types of games is pre-recorded, and Phonetic Arts aims to be one of the first to generate natural speech, which responds to in-game action.

The product would make games on major platforms as Playstation 3, XBOX 360 and Nintendo Wii more realistic and enjoyable for users.

Max Bautin of IQ Capital, who will also be joining the company’s board, said:
“With realism being the key competitive driver in gaming over the last two decades, character voice responses is a crucial area where little progress has been achieved. Phonetic Arts is in an excellent position to change that. We are very excited about this investment and look forward to working with the management team.”