Exit: German start-up Cognigy is sold to US.
Düsseldorf-based AI startup Cognigy has been acquired by US tech corporation NICE in a landmark $955 million deal – marking the biggest AI acquisition ever in Europe. The company, which develops multilingual AI agents capable of handling customer inquiries in over 100 languages, has seen remarkable growth in recent years. Clients like Lidl, DHL, Lufthansa, and Toyota rely on Cognigy’s technology, which has raised $170 million in venture capital to date. With this acquisition, Cognigy officially becomes a unicorn (a start-up valued at over $1 billion).
NICE, an Israel-born, New Jersey-based leader in digital customer service software (serving brands like Disney and Sony), plans to integrate Cognigy’s AI into its CXone Mpower platform. However, Cognigy will continue operating as an independent, open-architecture solution, according to a Business Punk report.
While the deal highlights the strength of North Rhine-Westphalia’s AI ecosystem, it also exposes gaps in Germany’s innovation framework. Barbara Engels of the German Economic Institute warns: »Germany excels at developing cutting-edge AI but struggles to retain it due to lack of domestic funding and risk appetite.«
MK
Image: IMAGO / Michael Gstettenbauer
