Latest news with #conversationalAI
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tony Zingale Joins LivePerson Board of Directors
NEW YORK, July 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), a leading provider of trusted enterprise conversational AI and outcome-driven digital transformation, today announced the appointment of Tony Zingale to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Mr. Zingale brings to LivePerson's Board decades of experience in leading and scaling high-growth enterprise software companies, with deep expertise in go-to-market strategies, product innovation, and operational excellence. "We are thrilled to welcome Tony Zingale to our Board of Directors," said John Sabino, CEO of LivePerson. "Tony's expertise and proven track record driving growth and innovation within the enterprise SaaS and software industries will be invaluable as we continue to pursue our strategy of empowering brands to create more personal and impactful customer connections, and our goal to deliver value to our customers and shareholders." Mr. Zingale is a seasoned board member, operating executive, investor, and advisor with over 40 years of experience in the technology industry. His extensive experience in enterprise software ranges from product development and market strategy to scaling global operations and driving shareholder value. He currently serves on the Boards of Directors for ON24 along with privately held companies Expressive, and Athos Therapeutics. Previously, he served as CEO and Executive Chairman of Jive Software, where he successfully led the company through its IPO and established it as a leader in enterprise collaboration. Prior to Jive, Mr. Zingale held leadership positions at several prominent technology companies, including President and CEO of Mercury Interactive, a business technology optimization company (acquired by Hewlett-Packard) and President and CEO of Clarify, a CRM company (acquired by Nortel Networks). "I am excited to join the LivePerson Board at such a pivotal time for the company and the conversational AI industry," said Mr. Zingale. "LivePerson has a unique and powerful vision for transforming how businesses engage with their customers, and I believe my experience in scaling enterprise software companies and navigating complex market dynamics can contribute significantly. I look forward to working with the Board and management team to help LivePerson achieve its strategic objectives and deliver value to its customers and shareholders." About LivePersonLivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN) is a leader in trusted enterprise conversational AI and digital transformation. The world's leading brands — including HSBC, Virgin Media and Chipotle — use our award-winning LivePerson platform to connect with millions of consumers. We power nearly a billion conversational interactions every month, providing uniquely rich data analytics and safety tools to unlock the power of conversational AI for better business outcomes. Fast Company named LivePerson the #1 Most Innovative AI Company in the world. Learn more at Forward-Looking StatementsStatements in this press release regarding LivePerson that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are being made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual events or results may differ materially from our expectations. Some of the factors that could cause events or results to differ from our expectations include, without limitation, our ability to execute on and deliver our current business, sales, go-to-market and product plans and goals, and the other factors described in the "Risk Factors" sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on March 14, 2025 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, filed with the SEC on May 8, 2024. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. Investor Relations Contact: ir-lp@ Media Contact: pr@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE LivePerson, Inc.
Wamda
15-07-2025
- Business
- Wamda
Wittify.ai secures $1.5 million pre‑seed to upscale Arabic conversational AI
Saudi Arabia-based conversational AI startup has raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round from a syndicate of prominent Saudi angel investors. Founded in 2025 by Nader El-Batrawi and Sarah AlHumoud, enables businesses to deploy AI-powered voice, chat, and omnichannel assistants that support more than 25 Arabic dialects. Its no-code platform integrates with websites, social media, CRMs, and call centres, offering plug-and-play AI with native speech tech. The startup will use the funding to accelerate product development, grow its engineering and product teams, and expand go-to-market efforts across MENA and GCC. Wittify is backed by three major accelerators: inspireU by stc, Misk x Plug and Play, and TikTok x Blossom Accelerator. Press release: the Riyadh-based startup building the world's most advanced Arabic-first conversational AI platform, today announced the successful closing of its $1.5 million pre-seed funding round. The investment comes from a syndicate of prominent angel investors and business leaders from Saudi Arabia, marking a major milestone that underscores strong confidence in the company's vision and technology. Founded in early 2025 by [Founders' names if known], has launched its closed beta platform, enabling businesses to create AI agents for voice, text, or multichannel interactions—with native Arabic speech technologies handling over 25 dialects. Its no-code builder integrates seamlessly with websites, social media, CRMs, call centers, and other systems. Backed by three strategic accelerator programmes—inspireU from stc, Misk Entrepreneurship x Plug and Play, and TikTok x Blossom Accelerator—the company is set to expand rapidly across Arabic-speaking markets and beyond. The funds will be used to: 'We're building Arabic-first, human-level AI to transform customer engagement,' reads the company's statement.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Better Artificial Intelligence Stock: SoundHound AI vs. Nvidia
SoundHound's revenue rose 151% in the most recent quarter as the company tapped into the expanding conversational AI market. Nvidia is very profitable, leads the AI processor market, and continues to generate impressive sales. Nvidia's stock is relatively cheaper than SoundHound's, and the chip company is benefiting from a much broader market opportunity from AI data centers. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › The current artificial intelligence (AI) boom has been the biggest driver of the stock market's gains over the past couple of years, and two companies that have seen phenomenal gains from AI are SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). Shares of SoundHound have soared 310% over the past three years, while Nvidia's stock has skyrocketed 910%. While both are AI stocks, they each play a unique role in the market, with SoundHound selling conversational AI services and Nvidia designing some of the most advanced processors used in artificial intelligence data centers. With both companies on the cutting edge of AI and their share prices rising, you may be wondering which is likely to be the better AI stock for years to come. Here's why the scales tip firmly in Nvidia's favor. Investors have been drawn to SoundHound because the company is tapping into an expanding conversational AI market that is estimated to be worth $152 billion by 2033. SoundHound's tech can handle a range of tasks, including customer service calls over the phone and ordering meals in the drive-thru, and so far, business has been booming. The company's revenue jumped 151% in the first quarter (which ended March 31) to $29 million. Investors have also been drawn to the fact that SoundHound doesn't have any debt and has $246 million in cash and cash equivalents. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows for SoundHound. The company reported a non-GAAP (adjusted) loss of $0.06 per share in Q1, and its gross margins slid to 51%, down from 66% in the year-ago quarter. SoundHound's stock is also expensive following their run-up, with shares currently having a price-to-sales multiple of 46. That's pricey when you consider the average P/S ratio for the internet software sector is about 7. Some investors have lost their appetite for SoundHound's stock with such a lofty valuation and no profit, causing the company's shares to tumble 36% year to date. Nvidia has been at the forefront of the AI boom for the past few years because the company's semiconductor designs account for up to 95% of all AI data center processors. The company's dominance in this market has led to phenomenal sales and earnings growth for Nvidia, with revenue rising 69% to $44 billion in the first quarter (which ended April 27) and earnings per share jumping 33% to $0.81. You'll notice a stark contrast between Nvidia and SoundHound here. While SoundHound's revenue growth is impressive, Nvidia is massively profitable, and SoundHound doesn't have any profit. What's more, Nvidia likely has more room to run in the AI data center space for years to come. Tech companies are locked into an AI dominance race right now, and that could continue to expand the market to $2 trillion by 2029, according to estimates by Moody's. To be fair, Nvidia's stock isn't cheap. The company's shares have a price-to-earnings ratio of 51, which isn't exactly a bargain. But Nvidia's stock still looks fairly valued, considering that the semiconductor industry has a P/E ratio of about 64 right now. With its massive AI data center market potential, soaring revenue and profit, and Nvidia's dominance in the AI processor market, the company's stock still looks like a great investment to hold for years. And with the company's shares relatively well priced, Nvidia easily wins in this AI stock matchup. Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $671,477!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,010,880!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,047% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025 Chris Neiger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Moody's and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Better Artificial Intelligence Stock: SoundHound AI vs. Nvidia was originally published by The Motley Fool Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SoundHound AI Stock Sank Today -- Is the Artificial Intelligence Company a Buy?
SoundHound AI stock saw a pullback Thursday, but there wasn't any major news driving the move. The conversational AI specialist's stock has been highly volatile over the last year. SoundHound AI's highly growth-dependent valuation makes it a risky play, but it could still deliver wins over the long term. 10 stocks we like better than SoundHound AI › SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) stock saw a pullback in Thursday's trading. The company's share price fell 4.7% in the session and had been down as much as 8.1% earlier in trading. While there doesn't appear to have been any major business-specific news behind the pullback, investors may have moved to take profits after a pop for the company's share price earlier in the week. Despite today's pullback, the stock is still up roughly 9% over the last week of trading. Even more striking, the company's share price is up roughly 39% over the last three months. SoundHound AI has been highly volatile over the last year of trading. While the company's share price is still up roughly 197% across the stretch, it's also still down approximatley 49% from its peak in the period. Even as the company's sales base has ramped up rapidly, sales growth has continued to accelerate. Revenue increased 151% year over year in the first quarter of the company's current fiscal year, which ended March 31. The company still only posted $29.1 million in sales in the period, but sales growth in the quarter marked a dramatic improvement over the 73% annual growth it posted in the prior-year period. SoundHound is an early mover in the voice-based agentic artificial intelligence (AI) space, and it has huge expansion potential over the long term -- but its valuation profile still comes with a risk. The company now has a market capitalization of roughly $4.9 billion and is valued at approximately 31 times this year's expected sales. For investors with a very high risk tolerance, SoundHound AI could still be a worthwhile investment. The company has been posting very impressive sales momentum, but its valuation already prices in a lot of strong growth in the future. If you're looking to build a position in SoundHound AI stock, using a dollar-cost-averaging strategy for your purchases may be better than buying in all at once at today's prices. Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $694,758!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $998,376!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,058% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025 Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. SoundHound AI Stock Sank Today -- Is the Artificial Intelligence Company a Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Better Buy in 2025: SoundHound AI, or This Other Magnificent Artificial Intelligence Stock?
SoundHound AI is a rapidly growing specialist in conversational artificial intelligence (AI), and it amassed an impressive list of customers. DigitalOcean provides cloud services to small and mid-sized businesses, and now it's helping those customers tap into the AI revolution. There are positives and negatives for both, but one clearly looks like the better investment right now. 10 stocks we like better than SoundHound AI › SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) is a leading developer of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) software, and its revenue is growing at a lightning-fast pace. Its stock soared by 835% in 2024 after Nvidia revealed a small stake in the company, although the chip giant has since sold its entire position. DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) is another up-and-coming AI company. It operates a cloud computing platform designed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), which features a growing portfolio of AI services, including data center infrastructure and a new tool that allows them to build custom AI agents. With the second half of 2025 officially underway, which stock is the better buy between SoundHound AI and DigitalOcean? SoundHound AI amassed an impressive customer list that includes automotive giants like Hyundai and Kia and quick-service restaurant chains like Chipotle and Papa John's. All of them use SoundHound's conversational AI software to deliver new and unique experiences for their customers. Automotive manufacturers are integrating SoundHound's Chat AI product into their new vehicles, where it can teach drivers how to use different features or answer questions about gas mileage and even the weather. Manufacturers can customize Chat AI's personality to suit their brand, which differentiates the user experience from the competition. Restaurant chains use SoundHound's software to autonomously take customer orders in-store, over the phone, and in the drive-thru. They also use the company's voice-activated virtual assistant tool called Employee Assist, which workers can consult whenever they need instructions for preparing a menu item or help understanding store policies. SoundHound generated $84.7 million in revenue during 2024, which was an 85% increase from the previous year. However, management's latest guidance suggests the company could deliver $167 million in revenue during 2025, which would represent accelerated growth of 97%. SoundHound also has an order backlog worth over $1.2 billion, which it expects to convert into revenue over the next six years, so that will support further growth. But there are a couple of caveats. First, SoundHound continues to lose money at the bottom line. It burned through $69.1 million on a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis in 2024 and a further $22.3 million in the first quarter of 2025 (ended March 31). The company only has $246 million in cash on hand, so it can't afford to keep losing money at this pace forever -- eventually, it will have to cut costs and sacrifice some of its revenue growth to achieve profitability. The second caveat is SoundHound's valuation, which we'll explore further in a moment. The cloud computing industry is dominated by trillion-dollar tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft, but they mostly design their services for large organizations with deep pockets. SMB customers don't really move the needle for them, but that leaves an enormous gap in the cloud market for other players like DigitalOcean. DigitalOcean offers clear and transparent pricing, attentive customer service, and a simple dashboard, which is a great set of features for small- and mid-sized businesses with limited resources. The company is now helping those customers tap into the AI revolution in a cost-efficient way with a growing portfolio of services. DigitalOcean operates data centers filled with graphics processing units (GPUs) from leading suppliers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, and it offers fractional capacity, which means its customers can access between one and eight chips. This is ideal for small workloads like deploying an AI customer service chatbot on a website. Earlier this year, DigitalOcean launched a new platform called GenAI, where its clients can create and deploy custom AI agents. These agents can do almost anything, whether an SMB needs them to analyze documents, detect fraud, or even autonomously onboard new employees. The agents are built on the latest third-party large language models from leading developers like OpenAI and Meta Platforms, so SMBs know they are getting the same technology as some of their largest competitors. DigitalOcean expects to generate $880 million in total revenue during 2025, which would represent a modest growth of 13% compared to the prior year. However, during the first quarter, the company said its AI revenue surged by an eye-popping 160%. Management doesn't disclose exactly how much revenue is attributable to its AI services, but it says demand for GPU capacity continues to outstrip supply, which means the significant growth is likely to continue for now. Unlike SoundHound AI, DigitalOcean is highly profitable. It generated $84.5 million in generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net income during 2024, which was up by a whopping 335% from the previous year. It carried that momentum into 2025, with its first-quarter net income soaring by 171% to $38.2 million. For me, the choice between SoundHound AI and DigitalOcean mostly comes down to valuation. SoundHound AI stock is trading at a sky-high price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 41.4, making it even more expensive than Nvidia, which is one of the highest-quality companies in the world. DigitalOcean stock, on the other hand, trades at a very modest P/S ratio of just 3.5, which is actually near the cheapest level since the company went public in 2021. We can also value DigitalOcean based on its earnings, which can't be said for SoundHound because the company isn't profitable. DigitalOcean stock is trading at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 26.2, which makes it much cheaper than larger cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft (although they also operate a host of other businesses): SoundHound's rich valuation might limit further upside in the near term. When we combine that with the company's steep losses at the bottom line, its stock simply doesn't look very attractive right now, which might be why Nvidia sold it. DigitalOcean stock looks like a bargain in comparison, and it has legitimate potential for upside from here thanks to the company's surging AI revenue and highly profitable business. Before you buy stock in SoundHound AI, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and SoundHound AI wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $695,481!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $969,935!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,053% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 179% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 7, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Chipotle Mexican Grill, DigitalOcean, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft, short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft, and short June 2025 $55 calls on Chipotle Mexican Grill. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Better Buy in 2025: SoundHound AI, or This Other Magnificent Artificial Intelligence Stock? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
