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In 2015, SoundHound became the first music recognition service shipping in autos, in a partnership with [[Hyundai Motor Company|Hyundai]], in the new [[Hyundai Genesis|Genesis model]].<ref name="engadget.com">{{Cite web|title = Hyundai and Kia tap SoundHound to help you identify music in your car|url = https://www.engadget.com/2014/01/14/hyundai-kia-soundhound-music-tagging/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEo_-JbarpaZt1rXasWm0zxhbTUI-1CrVFQEhGD9Q0MaP34s6_u0ZOHIW7tGsgDeDEg0VnJd8zOulKxBbX0UzbirDV6DNM5VZX7oWYCQ3BmQvvbMxMabYowh7M6cGWCuJyZvluCleKCjmNPejQJ7BLQO_enbuoc3eTPwKogqCFMH|website = Engadget|accessdate =June 5, 2015}}</ref>
In 2015, SoundHound became the first music recognition service shipping in autos, in a partnership with [[Hyundai Motor Company|Hyundai]], in the new [[Hyundai Genesis|Genesis model]].<ref name="engadget.com">{{Cite web|title = Hyundai and Kia tap SoundHound to help you identify music in your car|url = https://www.engadget.com/2014/01/14/hyundai-kia-soundhound-music-tagging/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEo_-JbarpaZt1rXasWm0zxhbTUI-1CrVFQEhGD9Q0MaP34s6_u0ZOHIW7tGsgDeDEg0VnJd8zOulKxBbX0UzbirDV6DNM5VZX7oWYCQ3BmQvvbMxMabYowh7M6cGWCuJyZvluCleKCjmNPejQJ7BLQO_enbuoc3eTPwKogqCFMH|website = Engadget|accessdate =June 5, 2015}}</ref>

In 2015, SoundHound announced its speech recognition and natural language understanding platform.


By May 2016, SoundHound had over 300 million users globally.<ref>{{Cite web|title = SoundHound now lets you use your voice to find music on the road {{!}} VentureBeat|date = May 17, 2016|url = https://venturebeat.com/2016/05/17/soundhound-now-lets-your-voice-find-music-when-youre-on-the-road}}</ref>
By May 2016, SoundHound had over 300 million users globally.<ref>{{Cite web|title = SoundHound now lets you use your voice to find music on the road {{!}} VentureBeat|date = May 17, 2016|url = https://venturebeat.com/2016/05/17/soundhound-now-lets-your-voice-find-music-when-youre-on-the-road}}</ref>
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SoundHound won the 2020 Webby Award for Productivity (Voice) in the category Apps, Mobile & Voice.<ref name="Kastrenakes">{{cite web |last1=Kastrenakes |first1=Jacob |title=Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21263445/2020-webby-awards-winners-lil-nas-x-nasa-jon-krasinski |website=The Verge |accessdate=May 22, 2020 |language=en |date=May 20, 2020}}</ref> In June of that year, the company announced partnerships with [[Snap Inc.]] as the technology behind Voice Scan in the Snapchat app, and [[Mastercard]] to voice-enable their new Drive Through solutions.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-11|title=Snap Inc. Announces New Camera and Augmented Reality Experiences|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005152/en/Snap-Inc.-Announces-New-Camera-and-Augmented-Reality-Experiences|access-date=November 17, 2020|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mastercard Launches Frictionless Retail Technology Solutions to Enable Touchless Economy|url=https://mastercardcontentexchange.com/newsroom/press-releases/2020/august/mastercard-launches-frictionless-retail-technology-solutions-to-enable-touchless-economy/|access-date=November 17, 2020|website=mastercardcontentexchange.com|language=en-US}}</ref>
SoundHound won the 2020 Webby Award for Productivity (Voice) in the category Apps, Mobile & Voice.<ref name="Kastrenakes">{{cite web |last1=Kastrenakes |first1=Jacob |title=Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/20/21263445/2020-webby-awards-winners-lil-nas-x-nasa-jon-krasinski |website=The Verge |accessdate=May 22, 2020 |language=en |date=May 20, 2020}}</ref> In June of that year, the company announced partnerships with [[Snap Inc.]] as the technology behind Voice Scan in the Snapchat app, and [[Mastercard]] to voice-enable their new Drive Through solutions.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-11|title=Snap Inc. Announces New Camera and Augmented Reality Experiences|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200611005152/en/Snap-Inc.-Announces-New-Camera-and-Augmented-Reality-Experiences|access-date=November 17, 2020|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mastercard Launches Frictionless Retail Technology Solutions to Enable Touchless Economy|url=https://mastercardcontentexchange.com/newsroom/press-releases/2020/august/mastercard-launches-frictionless-retail-technology-solutions-to-enable-touchless-economy/|access-date=November 17, 2020|website=mastercardcontentexchange.com|language=en-US}}</ref>


On November 16 2021, SoundHound announced plans to become a public company via a [[Special-purpose acquisition company|SPAC merger]] with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-16|title=SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211116005518/en/SoundHound-Inc.-Global-Leader-in-Voice-AI-Technology-to-Become-Publicly-Traded-Through-Proposed-Merger-With-Archimedes-Tech-SPAC-Partners-Co.|access-date=2021-11-16|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}</ref> On April 28, 2022, the combined company SoundHound AI, Inc. went public, listed under the symbol SOUN on the [[Nasdaq]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220427005362/en/SoundHound-Announces-Closing-of-Business-Combination |title=SoundHound Announces Closing of Business Combination |date=27 April 2022}}</ref> In 2022, the company laid off 10% of its staff and enforced salary cuts and it was reported that SoundHound raised less than half of what it originally projected in its SPAC merger deal.<ref>https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/11/10/soundhound-lays-off-10-of-staff-cuts-pay.html</ref>
On November 16 2021, SoundHound announced plans to become a public company via a [[Special-purpose acquisition company|SPAC merger]] with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-16|title=SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211116005518/en/SoundHound-Inc.-Global-Leader-in-Voice-AI-Technology-to-Become-Publicly-Traded-Through-Proposed-Merger-With-Archimedes-Tech-SPAC-Partners-Co.|access-date=2021-11-16|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}</ref> On April 28, 2022, the combined company SoundHound AI, Inc. went public, listed under the symbol SOUN on the [[Nasdaq]].<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220427005362/en/SoundHound-Announces-Closing-of-Business-Combination |title=SoundHound Announces Closing of Business Combination |date=27 April 2022}}</ref> In 2022, the company laid off 10% of its staff and enforced salary cuts and it was reported that SoundHound raised less than half of what it originally projected in its SPAC merger deal.<ref>https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/11/10/soundhound-lays-off-10-of-staff-cuts-pay.html</ref> In April, 2023, SoundHound secured $100 million in strategic financing.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-17 |title=SoundHound AI Secures $100 Million in Strategic Financing From Atlas Credit Partners |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/soundhound-ai-secures-100-million-123000470.html |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}}</ref>


==Funding==
==Funding==
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Announced in May 2018, SoundHound raised $100 million from a funding round led by [[Tencent]] and joined by [[Daimler AG]], [[Hyundai Motors]], [[Midea Group]], and [[Orange S.A.]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/03/soundhound-has-raised-a-big-100m-round-to-take-on-alexa-and-google-assistant/|title=SoundHound has raised a big $100M round to take on Alexa and Google Assistant|last=Lynley|first=Matthew|date=2018-05-03|publisher=TechCrunch|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref> With this funding, the valuation of the company reached $1 billion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.recode.net/2018/1/24/16930330/soundhound-billion-unicorn-fundraising-shazam-music-recognition-app|title=SoundHound, once just a music-recognition app, is now a billion dollar company|last=Schleifer|first=Theodore|date=January 24, 2018|publisher=recode|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref>
Announced in May 2018, SoundHound raised $100 million from a funding round led by [[Tencent]] and joined by [[Daimler AG]], [[Hyundai Motors]], [[Midea Group]], and [[Orange S.A.]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/03/soundhound-has-raised-a-big-100m-round-to-take-on-alexa-and-google-assistant/|title=SoundHound has raised a big $100M round to take on Alexa and Google Assistant|last=Lynley|first=Matthew|date=2018-05-03|publisher=TechCrunch|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref> With this funding, the valuation of the company reached $1 billion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.recode.net/2018/1/24/16930330/soundhound-billion-unicorn-fundraising-shazam-music-recognition-app|title=SoundHound, once just a music-recognition app, is now a billion dollar company|last=Schleifer|first=Theodore|date=January 24, 2018|publisher=recode|access-date=September 21, 2018}}</ref>


In November 2021, Soundhound first announced the merger Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co to go public with $2.1B valuation, then undisclosed investment from Qatar First Bank. Both are expected to close in the first quarter of 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-16|title=INSERTING and REPLACING SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211116005518/en/INSERTING-and-REPLACING-SoundHound-Inc.-Global-Leader-in-Voice-AI-Technology-to-Become-Publicly-Traded-Through-Proposed-Merger-With-Archimedes-Tech-SPAC-Partners-Co.|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-28|title=Qatar First Bank invests in US-based voice AI firm, SoundHound - NNR|url=https://newsnreleases.com/2021/11/28/qatar-first-bank-invests-in-us-based-voice-ai-firm-soundhound/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=NewsnReleases|language=en-US}}</ref>
In November 2021, Soundhound first announced the merger with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co to go public with $2.1B valuation, with $111 million of investments from Oracle, Qatar First Bank, Koch Industries, and MKaNN Ventures, Cota Capital, VIZIO, HTC, FIH Mobile (a Foxconn Technology Group company), and others. The transaction closed in April of 2022. <ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-16|title=INSERTING and REPLACING SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211116005518/en/INSERTING-and-REPLACING-SoundHound-Inc.-Global-Leader-in-Voice-AI-Technology-to-Become-Publicly-Traded-Through-Proposed-Merger-With-Archimedes-Tech-SPAC-Partners-Co.|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-11-28|title=Qatar First Bank invests in US-based voice AI firm, SoundHound - NNR|url=https://newsnreleases.com/2021/11/28/qatar-first-bank-invests-in-us-based-voice-ai-firm-soundhound/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=NewsnReleases|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-16 |title=INSERTING and REPLACING SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co. |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211116005518/en/INSERTING-and-REPLACING-SoundHound-Inc.-Global-Leader-in-Voice-AI-Technology-to-Become-Publicly-Traded-Through-Proposed-Merger-With-Archimedes-Tech-SPAC-Partners-Co. |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=www.businesswire.com |language=en}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 23:33, 4 July 2023

Not to be confused with SoundCloud.

SoundHound AI, Inc.
Company typePublic company
Nasdaq: SOUN
Industry
FoundedSeptember 2005; 19 years ago (2005-09)
Founder
HeadquartersSanta Clara, California, United States
Key people
Keyvan Mohajer (CEO)
Mike Zagorsek (COO)
Tim Stonehocker (CTO)
Products
  • SoundHound
  • Hound
  • Houndify
RevenueIncrease US$31 million (2022)
Number of employees
430 (2022)
Websitesoundhound.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

SoundHound AI, Inc. is an audio and speech recognition company founded in 2005. It develops speech recognition, natural language understanding, sound recognition and search technologies. Its featured products include Houndify, a Voice AI developer platform, Hound, a voice-enabled digital assistant, and music recognition mobile app SoundHound. The company’s headquarters are in Santa Clara, California.[2]

History

The company was founded in 2005 by Keyvan Mohajer, an Iranian-Canadian computer scientist who had founded a number of dot com ventures before starting SoundHound.[3]

In 2009, the company's Midomi app was rebranded as SoundHound but is still available as a web version on midomi.com.[4][5] In 2012, SoundHound announced it had over 100 million users globally.[6] In 2014, SoundHound became the first music-search product available as a wearable.[7]

In 2015, SoundHound became the first music recognition service shipping in autos, in a partnership with Hyundai, in the new Genesis model.[8]

In 2015, SoundHound announced its speech recognition and natural language understanding platform.

By May 2016, SoundHound had over 300 million users globally.[9]

In 2018, SoundHound Inc. announced partnerships with Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Honda to provide voice interaction for their products using its Houndify voice AI platform.[10][11][12]

SoundHound won the 2020 Webby Award for Productivity (Voice) in the category Apps, Mobile & Voice.[13] In June of that year, the company announced partnerships with Snap Inc. as the technology behind Voice Scan in the Snapchat app, and Mastercard to voice-enable their new Drive Through solutions.[14][15]

On November 16 2021, SoundHound announced plans to become a public company via a SPAC merger with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co.[16] On April 28, 2022, the combined company SoundHound AI, Inc. went public, listed under the symbol SOUN on the Nasdaq.[17] In 2022, the company laid off 10% of its staff and enforced salary cuts and it was reported that SoundHound raised less than half of what it originally projected in its SPAC merger deal.[18] In April, 2023, SoundHound secured $100 million in strategic financing.[19]

Funding

According to an article of June 2015 SoundHound Inc. had raised a total of $40 million in funding from Global Catalyst Partners, Translink Capital, Walden Venture Capital, and other investors.[20] This included $7 million in a Series B funding round the company secured in October 2008, bringing total funds raised to $12 million at that time. The round was led by TransLink Capital with the participation of JAIC America and Series A investor Global Catalyst Partners. In 2009 it attracted additional funding from Larry Marcus at Walden Venture Capital, who had previously invested in music startups Pandora and Snocap. The $4 million funding round was led by Walden Venture Capital VII, with the participation of an unnamed device manufacturer.[21]

In January 2017, the company raised another $75 million in an investment round that included Nvidia, Samsung, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, and others.[22]

Announced in May 2018, SoundHound raised $100 million from a funding round led by Tencent and joined by Daimler AG, Hyundai Motors, Midea Group, and Orange S.A.[23] With this funding, the valuation of the company reached $1 billion.[24]

In November 2021, Soundhound first announced the merger with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co to go public with $2.1B valuation, with $111 million of investments from Oracle, Qatar First Bank, Koch Industries, and MKaNN Ventures, Cota Capital, VIZIO, HTC, FIH Mobile (a Foxconn Technology Group company), and others. The transaction closed in April of 2022. [25][26][27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "SoundHound AI, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 28, 2023.
  2. ^ May, Patrick (June 3, 2013). "Siri's got nothing on SoundHound's new app". The Mercury News. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  3. ^ "Keyvan Mohajer, Soundhound Inc: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. February 7, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  4. ^ Rollison, Damian (January 27, 2010). "Tune identifier SoundHound announces new version with Pandora, tour dates". Venturebeat. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  5. ^ "Midomi Website". www.midomi.com. Retrieved June 11, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "SCREENVISION ACTIVATES SOUNDHOUND PARTNERSHIP TO CONNECT MOBILE MOVIEGOERS TO BIG SCREEN ADS | Screenvision". May 13, 2014.
  7. ^ "SoundHound First Music Discovery Service to Be Live on Wearables | Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. March 13, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  8. ^ "Hyundai and Kia tap SoundHound to help you identify music in your car". Engadget. Retrieved June 5, 2015.
  9. ^ "SoundHound now lets you use your voice to find music on the road | VentureBeat". May 17, 2016.
  10. ^ "Hyundai Motor Collaborates with SoundHound Inc. to Develop 'Intelligent Personal Agent' Voice-Control Technology". HYUNDAI MOTORS. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  11. ^ "First-look into a new Infotainment System from Mercedes-Benz, MBUX, powered with voice-enabled AI from SoundHound Inc". MBRDNA. September 14, 2018. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  12. ^ "Honda R&D Innovations, Inc. | SoundHound Inc. and Honda Partner on Development of a Voice-Enabled AI Assistant". Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  13. ^ Kastrenakes, Jacob (May 20, 2020). "Here are all the winners of the 2020 Webby Awards". The Verge. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  14. ^ "Snap Inc. Announces New Camera and Augmented Reality Experiences". www.businesswire.com. June 11, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  15. ^ "Mastercard Launches Frictionless Retail Technology Solutions to Enable Touchless Economy". mastercardcontentexchange.com. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  16. ^ "SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co". www.businesswire.com. November 16, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  17. ^ "SoundHound Announces Closing of Business Combination" (Press release). April 27, 2022.
  18. ^ https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/11/10/soundhound-lays-off-10-of-staff-cuts-pay.html
  19. ^ "SoundHound AI Secures $100 Million in Strategic Financing From Atlas Credit Partners". Yahoo Finance. April 17, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  20. ^ Winkler, Rolf (June 2, 2015). "SoundHound App Emerges to Take On Apple and Google in Voice Search". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  21. ^ Wauters, Robin (August 25, 2011). "Music Search Startup SoundHound Partners With Spotify For Instant Streaming". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  22. ^ Yeung, Ken (January 31, 2017). "SoundHound raises $75 million to expand access to its Houndify voice-powered platform". VentureBeat.com. VentureBeat. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  23. ^ Lynley, Matthew (May 3, 2018). "SoundHound has raised a big $100M round to take on Alexa and Google Assistant". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  24. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (January 24, 2018). "SoundHound, once just a music-recognition app, is now a billion dollar company". recode. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  25. ^ "INSERTING and REPLACING SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co". www.businesswire.com. November 16, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  26. ^ "Qatar First Bank invests in US-based voice AI firm, SoundHound - NNR". NewsnReleases. November 28, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  27. ^ "INSERTING and REPLACING SoundHound Inc., Global Leader in Voice AI Technology, to Become Publicly Traded Through Proposed Merger With Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners Co". www.businesswire.com. November 16, 2021. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
  • Business data for SoundHound AI, Inc.:
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