SoundHound AI entered a definitive agreement to acquire LivePerson, bringing together two major conversational AI platforms across voice, messaging, and digital customer engagement.
The deal combines SoundHound’s voice and agentic AI capabilities with LivePerson’s digital engagement platform, which processes around 1 bn customer messages each month.
The acquisition gives SoundHound additional revenue, customer scale, and deeper exposure to enterprise markets. The combined company will serve customers in more than 30 countries, including 12 of the world’s top 15 banks, four of the top five airlines, four of the top five automakers, and more than 10 major telecommunications providers.
LivePerson adds hundreds of enterprise and mid-market customer relationships, many lasting more than a decade.
These customers join SoundHound’s existing base across restaurants, automotive, financial services, healthcare, insurance, energy, and retail.
According to Beinsure analysts, the deal creates one of the broader enterprise customer footprints in conversational AI.
The transaction also expands SoundHound’s position in AI-driven digital customer service. LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud brings enterprise integrations across messaging, chat, web, mobile, and social channels. SoundHound gains a stronger omnichannel layer, connecting voice automation with text-based engagement.
The combined platform will offer enterprises one integrated system for managing customer conversations across voice and digital channels.
This addresses a recurring demand from both customer bases, as companies increasingly want fewer vendors and tighter continuity across service interactions.
Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and Co-Founder of SoundHound AI, said the combination brings together two complementary conversational AI businesses. He said the unified platform will help companies replace fragmented legacy systems with multimodal customer service tools built for an AI-driven operating model.
John Sabino, CEO of LivePerson, said the divide between speaking and typing in customer service continues to fade. Customers expect to begin a complex request by phone and continue through text or web messaging without repeating details or losing context. He said the deal brings SoundHound’s voice AI and LivePerson’s digital messaging capabilities into one portfolio.
The strategic logic rests on several areas. SoundHound adds voice AI to LivePerson’s digital customer base, which LivePerson said customers have often requested.
LivePerson adds digital orchestration to SoundHound’s enterprise stack. Together, the companies expect stronger performance, higher automation rates, and broader customer engagement across channels.
The companies also point to a data advantage. SoundHound processes bn of voice interactions each year, while LivePerson handles about 1 bn digital messages each month. Combining those datasets creates tens of bn of annual customer interactions, supporting model performance, orchestration, and automation quality.
The transaction also continues SoundHound’s acquisition-led expansion strategy. LivePerson marks its fifth strategic acquisition, following earlier integrations including Amelia and Interactions.
The combined business will hold more than 120 years of customer relationships and enterprise system integrations across its acquired and existing platforms.
SoundHound will acquire LivePerson for an equity value of $43 mn, representing about a 22% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average value.
At closing, SoundHound expects to receive $74 mn of LivePerson’s cash balance before repayment of the 2026 Convertible Senior Notes.
After accounting for discounts on LivePerson’s remaining debt, the transaction implies a total enterprise value of $250 mn.
SoundHound plans to retire the discounted debt at closing using cash, equity, or a mix of both, at its discretion. The combined company expects to operate with no debt after closing.
SoundHound expects 2027 revenue of at least $350 mn to $400 mn, including at least $100 mn in growable contribution from LivePerson’s customer base.
By cross-selling voice AI to LivePerson customers and offering a unified digital-and-voice solution to SoundHound customers, the company expects the business could reach $500 mn based on the existing customer base alone.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Barclays is advising SoundHound AI, with Latham & Watkins serving as legal counsel. Lazard is advising LivePerson, with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson serving as legal counsel.
SoundHound AI provides voice and conversational AI technology for companies across retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, telecom, smart devices, and restaurants. Its platform focuses on speed, accuracy, and multilingual voice interaction for enterprise customer experiences.
