NiCE acquires German AI firm Cognigy for $955M in record European deal

NiCE has acquired German conversational AI company Cognigy for $955 million, marking the largest acquisition of a European AI company to date. The deal represents a significant milestone for Europe’s AI sector and demonstrates investor confidence in enterprise AI solutions, particularly as venture capital investment in European AI continues to surge.

What you should know: Cognigy specializes in agentic AI that delivers human-like customer service across more than 100 languages and communication channels.

• The company’s AI agents can understand, adapt, and act in real time, serving major clients including Mercedes-Benz, Nestlé, DHL, and Lufthansa Group.
• NiCE, an AI-powered customer experience solutions company, will integrate Cognigy’s capabilities into its growing suite of AI tools aimed at transforming customer experiences.

Why this matters: The acquisition signals growing momentum in Europe’s AI sector and shows early-stage venture capital is translating into meaningful returns for investors.

• The deal comes amid a broader surge in European venture capital investment into AI companies, indicating increased confidence in the region’s AI capabilities.
• It demonstrates Europe’s ability to build what industry leaders call “generational AI companies” that can compete on a global scale.

Big win for investors: Venture capital firm DN Capital, which led Cognigy’s Series A funding round in 2019, exits with a significant cash return to its limited partners.

• The firm has held a board seat since its initial investment and adds this return to a five-year distribution total of $800 million.
• DN Capital was the first institutional VC investor in Cognigy, investing before large language models gained their current momentum.

What they’re saying: Industry leaders emphasize the significance of this outcome for the broader European tech ecosystem.

• “We were the first institutional VC investor in Cognigy, leading their Series A in 2019 before LLMs gained the momentum they have today,” said Guy Ward Thomas, a DN Capital partner who led the series A and joined Cognigy’s board. “It has been a privilege to work so closely with the Cognigy team as they’ve built a global category leader and proven Europe’s ability to build generational AI companies.”
• “This is a fantastic outcome for Cognigy, for DN Capital and for the wider European tech ecosystem,” said Nenad Marovac, Managing Partner at DN Capital. “It’s also testament to the next generation of DN Capital leadership stepping up and delivering outlier outcomes for our LPs.”