US-based voice AI company SoundHound AI has agreed to acquire LivePerson, a Nasdaq-listed enterprise technology firm specialising in conversational AI and digital customer engagement, for $43m.
The acquisition will bring together SoundHound’s voice and agentic AI platform with LivePerson’s digital messaging services, which are claimed to facilitate around one billion customer messages each month.
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The combined business is expected to provide an integrated solution for managing customer conversations across both voice and digital channels, extending coverage to enterprises in over 30 countries.
The transaction is anticipated to close in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. It will see SoundHound absorb LivePerson’s cash balance of $74m before repaying outstanding notes.
After accounting for discounts on LivePerson’s remaining debt, the acquisition reflects a total enterprise value of $250m.
At closing, SoundHound intends to settle the discounted debt through a combination of cash and equity, with expectations of operating the combined firm with no debt.
Following the acquisition, SoundHound will expand its offering across several sectors, including financial services, telecommunications, healthcare, travel, hospitality, and retail.
The company’s customer base is anticipated to increase significantly, given LivePerson’s relationships with hundreds of enterprises. These include major banks, airlines, automakers, and telecommunications providers.
LivePerson’s customers will gain access to SoundHound’s voice AI, while the latter’s existing clients will be offered new digital messaging capabilities.
The unified platform will handle both text-based applications and voice interactions, with data sources expected to total tens of billions of customer exchanges annually.
This data combination aims to improve automation, orchestration, and model performance for enterprise clients.
LivePerson CEO John Sabino said: “Historically, orchestrating a strategy across both voice and digital channels meant juggling multiple specialised vendors. This acquisition changes that dynamic.
“By bringing SoundHound’s cutting-edge, proprietary voice AI and LivePerson’s premier digital messaging together under one roof, we will offer the industry’s most complete portfolio of customer engagement solutions.”
With this move, SoundHound makes its fifth strategic acquisition, building on earlier integrations and combining over 120 years of collective experience in enterprise AI solutions.
The combined business is projected to generate a minimum revenue range of $350m to $400m by 2027, including at least $100m attributable to LivePerson’s established customers.
Projected growth from existing clients could bring the total to $500m.
SoundHound AI CEO and co-founder Keyvan Mohajer said: “Our combined customers will realise immediate value through expanded capabilities and enhanced scale.
“And by leveraging our unified conversational datasets, we are accelerating the evolution of our already powerful agentic AI platform to ensure impressive precision and market-leading performance.”
Barclays is advising SoundHound on the financial aspects, with Latham & Watkins serving as legal counsel.
LivePerson has retained Lazard as a financial adviser and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson as legal counsel.
Last month, Experis, a technology solutions provider under ManpowerGroup, joined forces with SoundHound AI to help large organisations adopt advanced AI and automation technologies.
