UK firm Spinvox 'put up for sale'

Spinvox says humans are needed to check text

UK voice-to-text firm Spinvox has been "put up for sale", according to one of its investors.

Investment firm Invesco Perpetual also said it had "written down" the value of its investment in the company.

Spinvox, which aims to convert voice messages into text messages using advanced speech recognition software, has declined to comment.

Earlier this year, the BBC discovered that many of the messages were converted by human operators instead.

Invesco Perpetual has invested £759,000 in the firm but now thinks the investment is worth £76,000, 90% less, according to its accounts.

It said it had chosen "not to invest in a further funding round", which would dilute the size of its stake in Spinvox.

Spinvox raised a further £15m in July after apparently getting through the $100m (£61m) it raised in March 2008.

"The business has been put up for sale, and it is possible that, should a good sales price be achieved, the new valuation may be exceeded," Invesco Perpetual said in its report.

A spokesperson for Spinvox said it had asked the investment firm to withdraw the statement.