The successful “Business Combination” was approved at a special meeting of Archimedes’s stockholders on April 26, 2022. Upon closing of the merger, the previously-trading units and subunits of Archimedes ceased to trade and were separated into their component parts.
The successful combination of the two entities continues SoundHound’s momentum over recent months with respect to key customers and expansion of its executive team. Recently, Netflix announced that it had selected SoundHound as a partner to provide a voice AI interface for its Da Vinci Reference Design Kit (RDK) solution.
Netflix expects that the SoundHound solution will reach a significant number of consumers as the RDK platform continues to gain wide adoption for video set-top boxes, broadband gateways, and connected devices. In May 2021, adoption of the platform surpassed 80 million device deployments worldwide, according to RDK Management. Through the new solution, end users will be able to easily navigate their watching experience using voice queries, and access their set-top box for voice commerce, such as ordering food, or controlling other devices in the home.
SoundHound also recently confirmed a multi-year agreement with Qualcomm to bring its voice AI technology to Snapdragon platforms, an announcement with SNAP to provide auto captioning for Snapchatter videos, and an expanded partnership with VIZIO to voice-enable the majority of VIZIO’s TVs and collaborate on interactive experiences.
SoundHound was also recently named Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Company of the Year in North American Automotive Connected Voice Assistance Industry and expanded its leadership team with new executive appointments, including Nitesh Sharan, Chief Financial Officer, and Zubin Irani, Chief Revenue Officer.
The combination with Archimedes will allow SoundHound to continue its forward momentum in the rapidly growing voice AI market, where voice assistants are forecast to exceed 8.4 billion connected devices by 2024. SoundHound is delivering quality voice-enabled experiences for brands to grow customer loyalty and deliver continued value. SoundHound also confirmed it had surpassed one billion voice queries on its platform in the past year.
“Entering the public markets is a huge milestone for SoundHound and I am incredibly proud of our team and what we’ve accomplished together,” says Keyvan Mohajer, CEO and Co-Founder of SoundHound. “It is also an important milestone in the voice AI industry that an independent voice platform like ours can be a disruptor and provide more choice to businesses that want to enhance their customer experience with voice. Becoming a public company opens the door for expanded opportunities and to work with customers and partners across industries to continue our mission to voice-enable the world around us.”
Dr. Eric Ball, former Chairman of Archimedes and now Chair of SoundHound’s audit committee, adds: "SoundHound's breakthrough voice technology has already been adopted by leading brands in multiple sectors using voice AI. As a public tech company, SoundHound will be able to pursue invigorated growth, and additional royalties from its products, subscription from its services, and monetization from voice commerce opportunities. The company will have the resources to amplify its innovation and commercial outreach to new customers. With the completion of this merger between Archimedes and SoundHound, we are excited to finish this chapter and look forward to the voice-enabled future powered by the newly publicly traded SoundHound.”
As a result of the operation, SoundHound has received significant proceeds to fund its new client-acquisition and expansion plans.
SoundHound offers an independent voice AI platform that enables conversational experiences, built on proprietary Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technologies. SoundHound’s advanced voice AI platform aims to provide speed and accuracy and enable humans to interact with products and services like they interact with each other — by speaking naturally. SoundHound is used by companies around the globe, including Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Pandora, Deutsche Telekom, Snap, VIZIO, KIA, and Stellantis.
www.soundhound.com
