SoundHound revenue rises 45% to $61.9 million as losses persist
Key Facts
SoundHound AI reported record second-quarter revenue of $61.9 million on August 5, 2026, up 45% from the same period a year earlier, according to the company's earnings release. Alongside the announcement, the company raised its 2026 annual revenue forecast range to between $230 million and $260 million as its enterprise business grew. James Hom, who was serving as interim chief financial officer at the time, attributed revenue growth to major AI contracts the company had won. Hom linked those contracts to the OASYS platform, saying the company was "signing large enterprise AI contracts attributable to OASYS." The revenue increase and higher annual outlook were accompanied by continued losses for the period, both on a net accounting basis and on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization basis.
The company had reported revenue of $44.2 million for the first quarter of 2026, according to its previous earnings release, before revenue rose in the second quarter. First-quarter revenue grew 52% year on year, meaning the annual pace of growth was higher than in the following period. Over a longer horizon, second-quarter revenue in 2022 was about $6.2 million, according to the company's release for that period, the year it began trading publicly. SoundHound shares began trading on Nasdaq under the symbol SOUN on April 28, 2022, taking the historical comparison back to the company's listing year. Quarterly revenue thus increased from its level in the listing year and from the preceding quarter of the current year, while its annual growth rate slowed between the first and second quarters.
On profitability, the second-quarter gross margin under generally accepted accounting principles was 45.1%, according to the earnings release issued in August. The company had reported a gross margin of 31.1% on the same accounting basis in the first quarter, with the revenue increase accompanied by a margin improvement from the previous period. The adjusted, non-GAAP gross margin was 58.4% in the second quarter, according to figures provided by the company. SoundHound posted a GAAP net loss of $42.8 million for the period, despite higher revenue and an improved gross margin. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization loss was $9.6 million, leaving the result negative under the adjusted measure management presented in its quarterly results as well.
After the financial period covered by the August announcement, SoundHound announced in September that it had completed its acquisition of LivePerson, according to its statement on the deal's closing. Following the acquisition, the company's customer base included 25 Fortune 100 companies, according to SoundHound's announcement upon completion. The announcement included the appointment of John Collins as chief financial officer of the combined company, a management development that followed the presentation of second-quarter results in which Hom spoke as interim chief financial officer. The deal brought SoundHound and the LivePerson platform together within the combined company, which announced plans to expand customer engagement across voice and digital channels. The acquisition's completion and the formation of the customer base announced afterward date to September, while the revenue, margins and losses in the August release relate to second-quarter performance.
In its automotive business, SoundHound announced in September the deployment of its voice and generative AI technologies in the Kia Sorento in India, according to the company's statement on the application. The announcement of the use of its technologies in the vehicle came after the quarterly results announcement and in the same month that it announced the completion of its LivePerson acquisition. On products, SoundHound said OASYS Edge allows conversations to continue when network signals are lost, with processing carried out locally to support user privacy. The company described the feature by saying that "conversations remain private by default and can continue uninterrupted even when network signals are unavailable." Its product description thus includes conversations operating without connectivity, alongside local processing of conversations, as part of its development of voice interaction technologies.
In the next phase following the acquisition, SoundHound announced that it plans to integrate the LivePerson platform into OASYS, according to the deal completion statement, to expand its customer engagement platform. The integration plan aims to bring voice and digital channel engagement together within the platform after adding LivePerson's customer base to the combined company. For OASYS Edge, the company set late 2026 as its target for deployment, according to its announcement on the product and its ability to continue conversations without a network connection. It said live demonstrations of the product were already available, with the product also included among demonstrations scheduled for the 2027 Consumer Electronics Show. The company's announced product schedule thus includes the targeted deployment of OASYS Edge in late 2026, followed by demonstrations for visitors at the 2027 edition of the show.