News

Keywords Studios to acquire Californian company Helpshift for $75 million

The company aims to become a market leader for in-app customer service solutions

Date Type Companies involved Size
December 7th, 2022 acquisition Helpshift
Keywords Studios
$0m
75m
Keywords Studios to acquire Californian company Helpshift for $75 million

International technical and creative services provider Keywords Studios has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire in-app AI-driven customer support platform Helpshift Inc. for up to $75 million, expanding their official partnership with the aim of creating a market leading customer service solution.

Helpshift is headquartered in San Franscisco, with offices in the UK and India. The company has developed a proprietary software-as-a-service customer support automation tool which is used by market-leading mobile clients like Supercell, Tencent, and Zynga. The technology manages and resolves customer support issues in real-time and in-app by combining conversational AI, automation, translation and agent support.

This ties in with Keywords’ existing player support framework and will help the business offer a wider range of customer support options within channels like mobile apps, social platforms, games consoles, and XR experiences.

The value of customer support

"We are excited to welcome the talented Helpshift team to Keywords after partnering with them for a number of years,” said Keywords Studios CEO Bertrand Bodson. “We have seen first-hand the power of their technology and its ability to improve player engagement and retention. We believe being able to deliver a holistic player experience solution will be a compelling offering for our clients and further support our strategic partnership ambitions with them. We are really looking forward to working with the team and supporting their growth as we continue to deliver against our long-term strategy for the Group."

The partnership will be enhanced by Heywords’ Kantan AI studio, which utilises an advanced machine translation tool and will expand the number of languages supported in-app by Helpshift’s platform, facilitating support for a greater number of clients.

"Helpshift is thrilled to join Keywords, and we believe that by becoming part of the Group we will drive the long-term growth of our platform and create tremendous value for our customers,” said Helpshift CEO Eric Vermillion. “We are excited to be able to combine with KantanAI and Player Support to provide a holistic, modern support journey fusing conversational AI, automation, translation, agent support, and more. Together, we will be able to cover the full spectrum of support needs and service levels, applying Helpshift's technology for efficiency and the seamless experience consumers want, and leveraging Keywords' agents to provide higher value-add interactions. We are looking forward to paving the road for the future of support with the wider Keywords group."

 In October, we reported that Keywords is expanding with two new studios in Australia.


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Staff Writer

Lewis Rees is a journalist, author, and escape room enthusiast based in South Wales. He got his degree in Film and Video from the University of Glamorgan. He's been a gamer all his life.