SYNQ3 Restaurant Solutions, a voice AI startup, was purchased by SoundHound AI for $25 million. SoundHound will have more than 10,000 more locations in the restaurant industry thanks to the acquisition.
AI for Restaurants
This year, SoundHound has been working quickly to expand its food footprint with convenience stores and restaurant chains. Following a successful pilot in 2020, the company plans to deploy voice AI at over 100 White Castle drive-thrus by the end of the year. A few months later, Samsung provided a multimodal enhancement for that using its MagicINFO interactive digital sign technology. When the voice AI communicates the customers’ requests to the kitchen, the menu boards and voice AI work together to provide better service that the customers can see is accurate. Now that SYNQ3 has over 25 brands of customers across drive-thrus, fast casual restaurants, casual dining establishments, and convenience stores in more than 100,000 locations, SoundHound can work to add those brands to its list.
“In joining forces, SoundHound AI and SYNQ3 will be the go-to standard for cutting-edge voice and conversational AI solutions for the restaurant industry,” SoundHound CEO Keyvan Mohajer explained. “Restaurant operators are turning to technology en masse, and voice AI is now playing a key role in helping them drive sales, reduce costs, and alleviate the burden of increasing demand on their employees.”
Revenue increases are anticipated from the agreement as SoundHound cross-sells SYNQ3’s clientele with its suite of AI products. Using information from more than 50 million prior interactions, these include advancements in dynamic interaction, intelligent answering, and employee assistance programs. Of the $25 million asking price, SoundHound will pay about 20% in cash and the remaining amount in stock. Subject to SYNQ3 meeting specific revenue targets over the following three years, an additional $4 million could be available.
Executives with industry experience such as CEO Steve Bigari, a former McDonald’s operator, are also available on SYNQ3. Bigari stated, “Together, we plan to leverage those synergies to deliver best-in-class AI ordering supported by the world’s largest library of restaurant AI orders.” The acquisition quickens SoundHound’s plan to commercialize its technology by enabling ordering services for food and beverages on TVs, automobiles, and other gadgets.
“SoundHound AI and SYNQ3 will provide our restaurant partners with a formidable voice solution that we believe significantly surpasses the competition,” said SYNQ3 CEO Steve Bigari. “Our businesses are highly complementary, with both AI and industry expertise at the core of who we are. Together, we plan to capitalize on those synergies to provide best-in-class AI ordering methodologies backed by the largest library of restaurant AI orders in the world. This will power a rapid acceleration of our growth!”
SoundHound’s desire to grow aligns with its strategy to increase revenue following its acquisition of $100 million in strategic funding in April. For its restaurant and automotive clients, that translates to a ton of new tools and features. Using its Dynamic Interaction voice AI for business services and leveraging generative AI for tasks like converting automobile manuals into voice assistants are on the list. Following two rounds of layoffs that reduced its workforce from approximately 450 to 200 employees, SoundHound had previously projected that it would turn a profit and had raised $25 million in equity financing in January.
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