Kids' games, speech recognition land ToyTalk millions in funding

Founded by Pixar veterans and aiming to give children the experience of talking with their favorite toys, ToyTalk has developed software that, at its heart, is one of the first successful applications of speech recognition for children. After releasing a series of games on the iOS app store, the company has been looking for further funding to lead to partnerships with popular characters, all with an eye to bring them to life on mobile platforms. The primary investors for this second round of funding include Charles River Ventures, First Round Capital, Greylock and True Ventures, Fortune has reported. Funding was lead by Khosla Ventures. CEO Oren Jacob stated that ToyTalk "want to be both a technology company and a content company," creating both their own original games, as they have been doing with games like Speakalegend and Speakazoo, as well as facilitating characters from other companies with their "Pullstring" voice recognition software, as evidenced by a partnership with Sesame Street.