VentureBeat

V-Enable, the San Diego startup that offers an information directory service for mobile phones called FreeMobile411, has raised half of a new $2.2 million funding round, VentureBeat has learned.

FreeMobile411’s offering comes in two forms — there’s a downloadable voice search application, through which you request address and contact information for a business or residence, as well as a mobile site, where you can make the same requests as a normal text search. V-Enable is going up against some big search companies — Google offers 1-800-GOOG-411, while Yahoo announced earlier this year that it will team with voice search startup Vlingo for its mobile offering oneSearch.

But FreeMobile411 has two advantages: It’s not limited to business listings, because it also includes 140 million residential listings, and it’s not completely automated either. If a caller’s having trouble with the normal service, FreeMobile411 can connect them to a live operator (for a small fee). Unfortunately, you can only download the voice service if your carrier has a deal with V-Enable, which means I can’t get the service on my iPhone. Supported carriers include AllTell, MetroPCS and Sprint.

The company previously raised around $20 million in venture funding. It isn’t disclosing the number of calls it serves, but it has released some interesting data about its most popular searches — recently, pizza-related calls appear to be on the rise.

A company spokesperson confirmed the funding, but didn’t offer any additional details. Backers include existing investors Palisades Ventures, Softbank Capital and Sorrento Ventures.

Voice mobile search is hot. Yahoo, for example, just partnered with a startup called Vlingo, which claims to offer the most advanced mobile search technology. V-Enable, on the other hand, is offering a very different new feature: Live operators.

Other free voice search companies, such as the new 411 services — like Jingle Networks’ and Google’s — are completely automated. Now, however, if you’ve got a hard-to-understand accent or just hate dealing with automated systems, you can get a real person to help you (albeit for a small fee).

As of today, the San Diego-based startup’s FreeMobile411 service has now launched on the web, making it available on any web-enabled mobile device. (Previously, it was only accessible on some carriers, including Verizon, Alltell and MetroPCS.) The company is also touting the fact that it includes 140 million residential listings, not just business data.

With so many companies trying to develop cutting-edge technology in this area, I’m not sure if something as old school as a live operator will be a big hit, and V-Enable (which is funded for more than $20 million) isn’t disclosing how many calls it receives. But the company gets points for thinking outside the box.