Voice-mail-to-text-messaging service SpinVox Ltd. reportedly explored a public offering before opting to raise more than $100 million in private capital, retaining Goldman Sachs & Co. as a financial adviser.

The Marlow, U.K.-based company chose to work with private equity firms and hedge funds, taking an investment from Goldman, European hedge fund giant GLG Partners LP, BlueMountain Capital Management LLC and ToscaFund Asset Management. Reuters reports that the company is now valued in excess of $500 million.

TechCrunch UK's Mike Butcher reports that SpinVox's revenues were £436,000 ($865,000) in 2006, but growing at a fast clip. That's still a long way from publicly traded, U.S.-based rival Nuance Communications Inc. [NUAN], which posted 2007 revenues of $195 million and currently sports a market capitalization of $3.76 billion. -- Paul Bonanos

See March 9 story from The Sunday TimesOnline
See March 19 post from TechCrunch UK
See March 20 press release from SpinVox via BusinessWire
See March 20 Reuters story