History
The company was founded in 2005 as Melodis Corp by Keyvan Mohajer, Majid Emami, and James Hom. The company initially focused on music recognition as a competitor to the Shazam app. [5] [6] [7]
In 2009, the company's music discovery app Midomi was rebranded as SoundHound but was still available as a web version on midomi.com until February 2025. [8] [9] The app grew from 2 million users in January 2010 to 100 million users in September 2012. [10]
In 2010, the company formally rebranded from Melodis Corp. to SoundHound. [5] [7]
In 2015, Hyundai Motors began offering the SoundHound music recognitions app in the infotainment systems of some Hyundai and Kia models. [11]
In December 2015, SoundHound launched Houndify, a voice interface for other products and services. [12]
In 2022, coinciding with its listing on NASDAQ, the company rebranded from SoundHound to SoundHhound AI. [13]
In December 2023, SoundHound acquired SYNQ3 Restaurant Solutions, a provider of voice AI for restaurants, for $25 million. [14]
In 2023–2024, SoundHound began providing voice AI phone ordering technology to various restaurant chains, starting with Jersey Mike's Subs and White Castle. [15] [16] The company's customer base also includes Applebee's, Beef O'Brady's, Casey's General Stores, Chipotle, Church's Texas Chicken, Habit Burger, Noodles & Company, Torchy's Tacos, and Red Lobster. [17] [18] [19] [20] As of 2023, SoundHound's AI voice platform supported 25 languages. [21] In October 2024, SoundHound claimed their phone ordering technology had processed over 100 million interactions with restaurant customers. [22]
In June 2024, SoundHound acquired Allset, a restaurant ordering marketplace founded out of Ukraine. [23]
In August 2024, SoundHound acquired Amelia AI for $85 million. [24]
In September 2025, it was announced that SoundHound had completed its acquisition of Interactions LLC, a company which also developed AI for the customer service market. [25]
Funding
According to a June 2015 article, SoundHound Inc. had raised a total of $40 million in funding with investments from Global Catalyst Partners, Translink Capital, Walden Venture Capital, and others. [26] 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. [27] In 2009, SoundHound 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. [28]
In January 2017, the company raised another $75 million in an investment round that included Nvidia, Samsung, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, and others. [29]
As of January 2018, the valuation of the company had reached $1 billion. [30] 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. [31]
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. [32] [33]
On April 28, 2022, the combined company SoundHound AI, Inc. went public, listed under the symbol SOUN on the Nasdaq. [34]
In November 2022, the company implemented a 10% workforce reduction and salary adjustments. [35] Reports at the time indicated that SoundHound had secured less than half of the anticipated funds from its SPAC merger. [36] In January 2023, the company reduced its workforce by approximately 50%, driven by the need to realign financial strategies and expedite the company's path to profitability amid evolving market conditions. [37]
In April 2023, SoundHound secured $100 million in strategic financing. [38]
In February 2025, Nvidia disclosed in a regulatory filing that it had sold its stake in SoundHound. [39]
In the second quarter of 2025, the company reported a revenue of $42.7 million, an increase of 217% year-over-year. [40]
US$84.7 million (2024)