In a move that could add serious AI muscle to its offering, NiCE has agreed to buy conversational AI specialist Cognigy for $955 million.
“This is a landmark moment for NiCE, a strategic move that fast-tracks our AI innovation agenda and sets a new standard for customer experience in the AI era,” said Scott Russell, CEO of NiCE.
This deal will deliver Cognigy, one of the first enterprise technology providers to launch AI agents, and its strong portfolio of AI capabilities into NiCE’s CXone Mpower platform.
The Real Play
Cognigy AI is a conversational AI platform for building customer and employee support bots. Ranked as a leader in both Gartner and Forrester reports, this highlights the strength of the company’s offering.
“By bringing a market leader in enterprise-grade conversational and agentic AI into the fold, we are accelerating global AI adoption, expanding into new markets, and creating game-changing value for our customers, partners, and shareholders. Together, we are significantly advancing the future of AI-first customer experience,” Russell said.
NiCE states the acquisition will combine its CXone Mpower platform with the technology of an enterprise leader in conversational and agentic AI to accelerate AI adoption in customer experience across both the front and back offices.
But it’s not just AI capabilities that NiCE stands to acquire. Cognigy serves some of the world’s leading brands, including Mercedes-Benz, Nestlé, and Lufthansa Group. Over the past 18 months, Cognigy has also built solid partnerships with Avaya and Genesys, helping their on-premise customers add cloud-based AI without a full migration. As these customers eventually move to cloud contact center platforms, NiCE now has an opportunity to win those contracts through this acquisition.
Commenting on the announcement, Cognigy CEO Philipp Heltewig said, “NiCE is an exceptional organization whose global reach, deep expertise, and relentless focus on innovation will accelerate our growth.”
When to Expect Integration
The NiCE Board of Directors unanimously approved the agreement to acquire Cognigy in a transaction that values Cognigy at approximately $955 million.
With a $50 million holdback ($25 million cash, 158,000 shares) tied to performance, the transaction, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025.
How long it will take for the acquisition to result in new features remains to be seen. Enterprise AI acquisitions have a mixed track record, especially when larger companies attempt to integrate nimble AI specialists.
However, as evidenced by its recent Super Bowl advertisement, NiCE has substantial funds to invest, giving it the resources and time needed to make this integration work.
In a competitive CCaaS field, with titans like Amazon entering the space, the need to stay ahead is increasingly important.
