ManpowerGroup’s Experis and SoundHound AI Announce Strategic Partnership to Accelerate and Scale Enterprise AI Adoption
Rhea-AI Summary
SoundHound AI (Nasdaq: SOUN) announced a strategic partnership with Experis (ManpowerGroup) on March 17, 2026, to integrate SoundHound’s agentic conversational AI into Experis’ newly launched EXCELERATE AI services suite.
The collaboration names SoundHound as Experis’ exclusive conversational AI technology partner in the United States, starting with a focus on healthcare, and includes referral, co-selling, implementation, and deployment support to scale enterprise AI solutions.
Positive
- Exclusive conversational AI partner for Experis’ EXCELERATE AI in the United States
- Launch alignment with Experis’ new EXCELERATE AI services suite to accelerate deployments
- Co-sell and implementation commitment: Experis to refer, co-sell, and support deployments
- Initial industry focus on healthcare across patient access, contact centers, and IT service desks
Negative
- Initial rollout limited to the United States, beginning with healthcare
- No disclosed commercial terms or revenue targets tied to the partnership
News Market Reaction – SOUN
On the day this news was published, SOUN gained 3.71%, reflecting a moderate positive market reaction. Our momentum scanner triggered 3 alerts that day, indicating moderate trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $121M to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $3.37B at that time.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
SOUN is up 3.29% with strong volume, while close software peers show mixed moves (e.g., FROG +1.17%, CCCS -2.56%, KC -0.58%). Momentum scanner flags only two names (including KC at -4.67%), reinforcing this as stock-specific rather than a sector-wide move.
Previous Partnership,AI Reports
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 28 | Restaurant partnership expansion | Positive | -2.5% | Extended Five Guys deployment of voice AI ordering agents across the chain. |
| Jan 21 | Enterprise advisory partnership | Positive | +1.6% | Partnered with Bridgepointe to drive enterprise adoption of Amelia 7 and Autonomics. |
| Oct 22 | Channel distribution deal | Positive | -2.6% | Teamed with Telarus to bring Amelia 7 and Autonomics to its advisor network. |
| Sep 23 | Restaurant phone ordering deal | Positive | +4.3% | Red Lobster adopted AI-powered phone ordering across all restaurant locations. |
| Jul 31 | Drive-thru technology partnership | Positive | -0.6% | Partnered with Acrelec to integrate Dynamic Drive-Thru voice AI globally. |
Partnership/AI announcements often move the stock modestly, with a mix of positive and negative reactions and no consistent directional pattern.
Over the past year, SoundHound AI has repeatedly used strategic partnerships to extend its agentic and Autonomics platforms across restaurants, drive‑thrus, and enterprise channels. Deals with Five Guys, Red Lobster, Acrelec, Bridgepointe, and Telarus expanded deployment and distribution, but next‑day moves ranged from about -2.6% to +4.3%. Today’s ManpowerGroup/Experis partnership continues this go‑to‑market strategy, targeting large U.S. enterprises and healthcare via Experis’ AI services suite and consulting reach.
Historical Comparison
Past partnership/AI announcements produced an average next-day move of about 0.04 in either direction. Today’s 3.29% gain sits within the historical range but toward the stronger end of typical reactions.
Partnerships have steadily broadened SoundHound’s footprint from QSR drive‑thrus and phone ordering into enterprise channels via advisory and distributor networks, and now into large enterprises and healthcare through ManpowerGroup’s Experis brand.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement highlights a strategic partnership with ManpowerGroup’s Experis brand, making SoundHound AI the exclusive conversational AI partner within the new EXCELERATE AI services suite. It extends the company’s agentic and Autonomics capabilities into large U.S. enterprises, starting with healthcare. In context of prior restaurant and enterprise partnerships, key factors to watch include deployment breadth, reference customers, and follow-on wins that demonstrate measurable operational efficiency and stronger adoption of its agentic AI platform.
Key Terms
agentic conversational ai technical
agentic ai platform technical
speech-to-meaning technical
generative ai technical
multi-agent autonomous orchestration technical
human-in-the-loop technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Technology services brand of ManpowerGroup launches new Enterprise AI Services Suite, integrating agentic conversational AI from SoundHound, as an official AI technology partner
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoundHound AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice and conversational AI, today announced a strategic partnership with Experis, a global leader in technology solutions and part of the ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) family of brands, to help large enterprises accelerate the adoption and deployment of advanced AI and intelligent automation solutions.
The partnership coincides with the launch of Experis’ new AI services suite, EXCELERATE AI, with SoundHound AI serving as its exclusive conversational AI technology partner. By combining Experis’ expertise in technology workforce solutions and digital transformation consulting and delivery with SoundHound AI’s agentic AI platform and Autonomics platforms, the collaboration enables organizations to deploy agentic AI solutions that improve customer and employee experiences while driving measurable operational efficiency.
This collaboration will extend across industries served by Experis in the United States, beginning with healthcare. The partnership enables organizations to modernize service delivery across patient access, contact centers, and IT service desks; all part of a broader evolution toward AI-enabled service models that deliver faster outcomes and higher value per engagement. Delivery will be led by Experis experts who bring deep domain knowledge and a proven track record supporting clients with complex, enterprise-scale operations. Together, Experis and SoundHound AI help organizations improve responsiveness, reduce operational strain, and enhance customer experiences.
As Experis’ conversational AI technology partner, SoundHound AI will play a key role within the EXCELERATE AI portfolio, positioning its conversational and agentic AI technologies as core enablers within Experis’ broader AI services framework—helping enterprises achieve faster time‑to‑value through disciplined activation, implementation, and scale.
“Enterprises are eager to move beyond experimentation and deploy AI solutions that deliver measurable impact,” said Keyvan Mohajer, Co-Founder and CEO of SoundHound AI. “By partnering with Experis, we’re combining their deep consulting and implementation expertise with our leading-edge technology to help organizations deploy enterprise-grade agentic AI to drive real operational value.”
Through the agreement, Experis will refer and co-sell SoundHound AI’s agentic AI platform and Autonomics solutions to its enterprise clients, while also supporting implementation and deployment to ensure organizations can scale AI initiatives effectively.
“Organizations everywhere are investing heavily in AI, but the real challenge isn't the technology itself; it's turning that investment into real business outcomes. This is about bringing human expertise together with agentic solutions and piloting new ways of getting work done with our clients. That’s ‘Humans First, Digital Always’ in action. AI transformation is just as much about people, skills, and operating models as it is about platforms, and that's where Experis is uniquely positioned to help,” said Kye Mitchell, President of Experis U.S. “Through our partnership with SoundHound AI and the launch of EXCELERATE AI, we're bringing together powerful agentic AI capabilities with the deep technical expertise, consulting strength, and talent solutions clients need to actually operationalize AI. When organizations get that combination right, they move faster, innovate more effectively, and there's more room for their people to grow alongside the business.”
Agentic AI Platform
SoundHound’s next-generation agentic AI platform can handle complex multi-step user queries by orchestrating multiple AI agents with specific functions to answer questions, execute transactions, and resolve problems via text or voice, without the need for human intervention.
SoundHound’s work over a decade ago paved the way for these new agentic experiences, pioneering Speech-to-Meaning technology – which combines speech recognition and language understanding in real time to deliver superior speed and accuracy. SoundHound also developed Deep Meaning Understanding and, while others were still delivering simple, limited commands, were the first voice technology company to enable the processing of complex and compound conversations.
As a result, end users of SoundHound’s agentic platform can get things done by speaking as naturally as they would to a person.
Soundhound’s AI agents also use Agentic+ – a flexible combination of generative AI, multi-agent autonomous orchestration, traditional deterministic models, and human-in-the-loop to complete tasks based on the best possible path to the right response.
Autonomics
SoundHound’s AI-powered Autonomics platform enables the AI-driven, end-to-end automation of IT systems through a single pane of glass.
Unlike traditional IT Infrastructure monitoring, Autonomics allows a user to understand why an issue occurred and to resolve it fast, turning existing IT tools into an automated, digital first self-healing system that detects, diagnoses, and resolves problems.
Learn more about SoundHound AI’s solutions here.
About SoundHound AI
SoundHound AI (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice and conversational AI, delivers solutions that allow businesses to offer superior experiences to their customers. Built on proprietary technology, SoundHound’s voice AI delivers best-in-class speed and accuracy in numerous languages to product creators and service providers across retail, financial services, healthcare, automotive, telecom, smart devices, and restaurants. The company’s groundbreaking AI-driven products include Smart Answering, Smart Ordering, Dynamic Drive-Thru, and the Amelia Platform, which powers AI Agents for enterprise. In addition, SoundHound’s Agentic AI for Automotive and Autonomics, a category-leading operations platform that automates IT processes, have enabled SoundHound to power millions of products and services, and process billions of interactions each year for world-class businesses.
About Experis
Experis®, a global leader in technology services, provides the experience and expertise to shorten the distance between innovation and business impact in a digital world. Experis is guided by the principle that only human ingenuity can unlock the true potential of advanced technologies like AI. For clients, Experis offers the right mix of talent and technology to accelerate progress and deliver real-world results. For individuals, Experis has the insight, size, and scale to help tech professionals expand their skills, increase their value, and find the right opportunities. By matching talent to technology in transformative ways, Experis creates brighter futures for everyone. Experis is part of the ManpowerGroup® (NYSE: MAN) family of brands, which also includes Manpower and Talent Solutions.
For more information, visit www.experis.com, or follow us on LinkedIn.
Media Contact
Gianna Arantes
201-815-9852
PR@SoundHound.com
John Julitz
+1 (414) 502-9314
john.julitz@manpowergroup.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ea38d7ae-c6c7-4237-bb01-703b4b60ae0e
FAQ
What did SoundHound AI announce about the Experis partnership on March 17, 2026 (SOUN)?
How will the Experis and SoundHound AI partnership affect enterprise AI deployments for SOUN?
What is EXCELERATE AI and how does SoundHound AI fit into it (SOUN)?
Which industries and use cases will Experis and SoundHound AI target first for SOUN solutions?
What technologies from SoundHound AI are included in the Experis collaboration (SOUN)?
Will Experis handle implementation and scaling of SoundHound AI solutions for SOUN clients?
