From Startup Fortune · · 1m 30s
Five9 Buys Level AI for $325 Million
Five9 acquires Level AI for $325 million in cash, signaling a shift toward vertical AI in contact centers.
In brief
Five9 acquires Level AI for $325 million in cash, signaling a shift toward vertical AI in contact centers. Five9 paid $325 million for Level AI, a contact center AI startup, to own its specialized models and data privacy benefits. Originally reported by Startup Fortune.
Five9 Acquires Level AI
Five9 agreed to buy Level AI for $325 million in cash, expected to close by the end of its fiscal year.
Level AI's Funding History
Level AI raised $72.4 million across four funding rounds, most recently a $39.4 million Series C in July 2024.
Level AI's Specialized Models
Level AI built its own family of models called Latitude, trained specifically on customer service conversations.
Data Privacy Advantage
Enterprises get a data privacy story by running models without routing sensitive call transcripts through third parties.
Five9's Partnership History
Five9 and Level AI first partnered through the Five9 CX Marketplace in 2022, integrating Level AI's technology since then.
Five9's Strategic Shift
Five9 spent four years watching Level AI's technology work inside its customer base before acquiring it outright.
Why Five9 Paid $325 Million
Five9 priced Level AI as infrastructure it couldn't afford to let a competitor buy instead of a contact-center add-on.
Industry Context
The AI industry has focused on frontier labs and trillion-dollar chip bets, while Level AI built a smaller, specialized model for contact centers.
In short
Five9 paid $325 million for Level AI, a contact center AI startup, to own its specialized models and data privacy benefits.
