EXCLUSIVE: SoundHound's AI Voice Technology Revolutionizes Restaurant, Automotive Industries

Last week, Nvidia NVDA and SoftBank SFBQF announced a stake in SoundHound AI SOUN through 13F filings, pushing the stock higher by over 60%.

While retail aficionados scrambled to research more about this small company with high potential, stock market veterans would remember that Nvidia invested in the company as early as 2017, participating in a $75 million funding round.

"We’ve had a business relationship with Nvidia for many years now, and we’re not at all surprised by the amazing success the company is seeing," SoundHound's CEO Keyvan Mohajer told Benzinga, offering his perspective on arguably the most extraordinary stock run in the recent history.

Still, SoundHound's success didn't come overnight. The company has been around for two decades, tracing its origins to Mohajer's Ph.D. research at Stanford University. He had a 20-year vision, in contrast to venture capitalists who sought quick returns and favored shorter investment cycles.

In response, Mohajer innovated by introducing the ability to search through humming, a feature that Big Tech had not yet developed at the time. The result was the SoundHound Music App, and with it came the much-needed funding. After almost a decade of hard work, the company started patenting its technology before presenting a demo in 2015.

Now read: SoundHound CEO Keyvan Mohajer: Building Technology So Advanced, It Feels Like Magic’

"We pioneered many concepts, including AI as a platform, Speech-to-Meaning in voice AI, the handling of complex conversations with groundbreaking speed and accuracy, and we built an entire developer ecosystem before even Big Tech," Mohajer said, referring to 270+ patents the company has registered globally.

Besides notable investors like Nvidia, Samsung SSNLF, and Tencent TCEHY, SoundHound has attracted attention from SoftBank – one of the largest publicly traded investors in tech companies.

"SoftBank has been at the forefront of pioneering technologies for a long time, and we are pleased to have them as an investor. SoundHound’s momentum across industries continues to attract both investors and customers, crystalizing our position as a leading AI provider with the potential to drive real disruption," Mohajer said.

SoundHound's products are currently making waves in the restaurant and automotive industry. The firm recently announced a partnership with a sandwich chain, Jersey Mike's Subs, launching a voice AI ordering system at 50 locations. Through state-of-the-art technology, customers can make orders but receive a broad range of answers regarding anything from store opening times to parking, allergens and other related information.

Furthermore, SoundHound AI's Voice Assistant with integrated ChatGPT is going to full production with Stellantis' STLA brand, DS Automobiles. Following a successful European pilot program, the French luxury automaker will make the SoundHound Chat AI-powered assistant, Iris, available in 13 languages across 18 countries.

However, looking at the rapidly growing spatial computing market, SoundHound's technology seems inevitable.

With the recent Vision Pro headset and Quest 3 representing the next generation of hardware, the trend is toward downsizing such technology. Spatial computing pioneers like Avi Bar-Zeev see this technology packed in a product as convenient as a pair of glasses. A product of such size would feature little in terms of buttons, but it would certainly feature a small microphone. Thus, artificial intelligence would be crucial in developing such a device.

"Spatial computing also undoubtedly needs to look to voice and conversational AI to fully unlock its value, and this clearly matches our strengths and offerings perfectly," Mohajer told Benzinga.

When asked about the recent surge of interest in his company, he responded, saying, "It feels right. SoundHound is a major force and leading innovator in AI and has been for nearly two decades. We feel like we’ve earned the recognition we’re getting," he said.

Also read: Nvidia’s Earnings Around The Corner: Can AI Stalwart Bulldoze Its Way To Another Superlative Quarterly Performance?

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