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Tellme Networks built an interactive voice response platform that leveraged voice recognition and natural language processing to deliver information and services. This core product allowed mobile users to verbally access data such as news, weather, sports scores, and stock quotes, effectively creating a voice-driven interface for common inquiries and tasks. The technical approach centered on making complex information readily available through simple spoken commands.
The company was founded in 1999 by Mike McCue and Angus Davis. Their foundational insight recognized the nascent but growing need for intuitive, voice-controlled access to digital information, especially as mobile phone usage expanded. McCue, with prior entrepreneurial success from selling Paper Software to Netscape, brought significant experience to the venture.
Tellme Networks served a diverse clientele, including companies in the airline, financial services, healthcare, travel, and logistics sectors within the United States. The company's long-term vision focused on establishing voice as a primary interaction method for ubiquitous information access, aiming to simplify how individuals and businesses engaged with services through their communication infrastructure.
Tellme Networks has raised $6.0M across 1 funding round.
Key people at Tellme Networks.
Tellme Networks has raised $6.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Tellme Networks has raised $6.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Tellme Networks's investors include NEO.
Tellme Networks was a pioneering Silicon Valley company founded in 1999 that developed telephone-based applications using speech-recognition technologies, offering voice portals for news, weather, sports, stock quotes, driving directions, and more, accessible via any phone.[1][2] It served both consumers seeking on-the-go information and businesses needing voice-enabled customer service and marketing applications, solving the problem of delivering internet-like content and functionality through voice interfaces before smartphones dominated.[1][2] The company achieved rapid growth, processing over 2 billion unique calls in 2006, before Microsoft acquired it in 2007 for approximately $800 million.[1]
Tellme Networks was founded in April 1999 in Mountain View, California, by Mike McCue and Angus Davis, alongside a team including Rod Brathwaite, Jim Fanning, Kyle Sims, Brad Porter, Michael Plitkins, Hadi Partovi, John Giannandrea, Andrew Volkmann, Anthony Accardi, Patrick McCormick, Danny Howard, Vicki Penrose, and Emil Michael.[1] The idea emerged from combining internet innovation with voice technologies to transform phones into portals for information and services, at a time when mobile internet was nascent.[1][2] Early traction came in 2000 with a free voice portal service featuring time-of-day announcements, weather, news, and a "Phone Booth" long-distance calling perk to attract users, despite competition from players like BeVocal, Hey Anita, and Quack.com (acquired by AOL).[1] As a venture-backed startup, Tellme debated strategies like partnering with internet giants such as Yahoo! while building its own portal.[2]
Tellme rode the early 2000s trend of voice-enabling the internet amid slow mobile web adoption and the dot-com boom, capitalizing on phones as the universal access device for information and services.[1][2] Timing was ideal post-1999 funding surge, with competitors proliferating but Tellme's scale (2 billion calls by 2006) and partnerships positioning it as a leader in telecom-software convergence.[1] Market forces like venture capital influx into speech tech and demand for "always-on" info services favored it, influencing the ecosystem by proving voice platforms' viability and paving the way for modern voice assistants like Siri (via acquired talent).[1][2] Its Microsoft acquisition integrated these capabilities into products like Tellme Studio, accelerating voice tech in enterprise and consumer apps.[1]
Post-2007 acquisition, Tellme's tech and team fueled Microsoft's voice initiatives, with alumni like McCue (Flipboard founder) and Davis (Salesforce co-founder) driving broader innovation; remnants evolved into 7 Customer for multichannel support.[1][3] Looking ahead, Tellme's legacy underscores voice AI's resurgence amid AI agents and multimodal interfaces, shaping trends like conversational commerce and accessible tech. Its influence endures in today's ecosystem, where phone-voice hybrids power global services, tying back to its original mission of connecting people and info seamlessly via voice.
Tellme Networks has raised $6.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $6.0M Tellme - Series A in May 1999.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 1, 1999 | $6M Series A | — | NEO | Announced |
Key people at Tellme Networks.
