It is the largest AI acquisition in Europe to date and a strong sign of AI expertise in Germany: The start-up Cognigy, a leading CX AI platform, has announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Nasdaq-listed NiCE for almost $1 billion. A graduate of the University of Münster is behind this success.

Philipp Heltewig, CEO and co-founder of Cognigy, studied Information Systems (MSc) at the University of Münster from 2002 to 2007 and spent a year abroad at our ERCIS Partner, the QUT in Brisbane Australia.

In 2016, together with Sascha Poggemann and Benjamin Mayr, he founded Cognigy, one of Europe’s leading providers of voice and chatbot solutions for customer service. The company has developed a platform that enables enterprises to deploy AI agents that think, adapt, and perform simple tasks. These agents operate across multiple channels, support over 100 languages, and can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems – setting Cognigy apart from traditional chatbots.

“This outstanding entrepreneurial success highlights the great potential of Information Systems in Münster.”, says Prof. Jan vom Brocke, Director of the Department of Information Systems: “Our students receive a first-class education in Münster that prepares them for global careers and groundbreaking innovations. We will further expand this potential in the future, for example through the ERCIS Flow Factory, and actively promote entrepreneurial ventures even more strongly.”

The official press release from NiCE is available here.