Voices Announces $18 Million Growth Investment by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital

Voices, the largest global voice over online marketplace, today announced an $18 million growth investment from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, the growth-focused private investment platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management. This represents the Company’s first institutional investment since its founding in 2005. Investment funds will be used to scale global operations, expand client and subscriber product offerings and further enhance Voices’s leading proprietary technology and systems.

Voices is the leading online platform connecting global buyers of audio and voice over products and services with the largest online selection of over 200,000 voice actors representing over 100 languages and dialects. Its flagship website, www.voices.com, records approximately two million unique visitors annually and has enabled over 250,000 transactions to date. Users leverage the site to complete animation, documentary, corporate content, film, radio, video games and other projects. Voices clients include Fortune 500 companies, leading production, advertising, and creative firms, and small to medium-sized businesses.

The online voice over market is expanding rapidly within an industry measured at over $4 billion annually. With advances in digital recording and editing technologies enabling high-quality audio production from remote studios, professionals turn to Voices to connect to traditional and new buyers of voice over products and services. Voices provides buyers with rapid access to a global, diverse and historically underutilized pool of voice over talent, seamlessly selected and delivered through the Company’s end-to-end online platform. Work is generally completed within 24-48 hours, dramatically shortening production schedules when compared to historical recording methods.

“Voices has broken the traditional barriers of time, geography and access to bring the best voice over actors to our clients, without sacrificing product quality thanks to rapid and ongoing technological advances. This investment marks the beginning of a new era for the Company and will enable us to even better serve our diverse set of constituents,” Voices CEO and Co Founder David Ciccarelli explains. “Content creators, whether video producers or brand managers at companies large and small expect voice over work to move at the speed of thought, and Voices makes that possible. As we embark on our next phase of growth, we will stay laser-focused on delivering increased value to both our business clients and voice over talent.”

“We are excited to enter into this partnership with Voices,” adds Robert Bassman, Managing Principal at Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. “Through its leading online platform, the Company serves a large and diverse client base with evolving needs from traditional broadcast and radio advertisements to audiobooks and podcasts to digital media formats. The Company’s technology-enabled self and full-service product offerings, combined with its broad access to talent, provide a compelling value proposition. We look forward to working with the Voices team as it continues to grow its business.”

“Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital’s involvement and investment experience closely align with the vision we’ve had for Voices’s continued growth. The team’s passion for and support of our shared vision promises to open up a whole new world of opportunities for our business, employees, talent, and customers,” says Voices Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer Stephanie Ciccarelli.
 

About Voices
Founded in 2005, Voices is the largest global online marketplace for audio and voice over products and services comprised of nearly half a million business clients and voice actors. Its flagship website, www.voices.com, records approximately two million unique visitors annually and has enabled over 250,000 transactions to date. Headquartered in London, Canada, the Company employs more than 100 people and has clients and voice talent in 139 countries. For more information, visit www.voices.com or follow Voices on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital

Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital is the growth-focused private investment platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital targets growth equity and credit investments within technology, healthcare, consumer, digital media and other high growth sectors. For over three decades, Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital has successfully pursued growth investment opportunities and has completed investments in over 190 companies leveraging the global brand and network of Morgan Stanley.