SoundHound AI has announced the acquisition of Amelia, a conversational AI software company, for $80 million. The move will help position SoundHound AI as the foremost provider of voice and conversational generative AI, with reach across multiple industries, including retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, smart devices, restaurants, and more.
Amelia has a strong background in enterprise AI and holds customer service contracts with multinational companies in finance, insurance, retail, and healthcare. By merging their decades of experience in conversational AI, the two companies aim to provide outstanding customer service support.
The acquisition will enable SoundHound AI to reach new vertical industries like healthcare, insurance, and financial services, with the potential for more. The company will establish a distinct competitive advantage in the conversational AI space through extensive cross-industry deployment and complementary product offerings.
“SoundHound AI has emerged as a leader in bringing voice-enabled conversational AI to products and services. Now with more businesses choosing voice AI technology for customer service – and more consumers expecting a seamless, AI-powered service – this acquisition positions SoundHound as a strong force with range, scale, and world class technology. Amelia is an innovative company that shares our passion for AI-fueled conversations. We are looking forward to leveraging our shared capabilities to offer the best AI customer support solutions available anywhere,” said Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and Co-Founder of SoundHound AI.
Following its acquisition of Allset, SoundHound AI is pushing forward with plans to integrate voice transactions, such as food ordering, into its voice-enabled products. With Amelia's addition, new industries like healthcare, financial services, and retail could be incorporated into this monetization strategy, expanding the scope of consumer transactions.
“We’re excited to bring Amelia’s experience and relationships to SoundHound AI, bolstering the company’s growing AI customer service business to form a new category leader in the space. With impressive penetration into a range of vertical industries, proprietary technology, and decades of combined AI experience, SoundHound is well positioned to take advantage of burgeoning interest in conversational AI customer support,” said Lanham Napier, President of Amelia and Co-Founder of BuildGroup.
Alongside partner relationships built over 25 years, Amelia brings additional AI expertise to SoundHound, as well as new intellectual property, and the ability to execute on a broader range of integrations with enterprise software.
