IgniteTech Acquires Khoros to Transform Customer Connections in the AI Answer Engine Era

New AI Features to Empower Brand Communities as Digital Discovery Evolves

AUSTIN, Texas, May 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- IgniteTech, a leader in AI innovation for enterprise software, today announced its acquisition of Khoros, the comprehensive platform for digital-first customer engagement. IgniteTech is set to integrate its proven AI technologies across the Khoros platform. This strategic move comes as brands without AI-enhanced capabilities face up to 40% drops in visibility and engagement.

"Khoros has found its ideal home at IgniteTech," said Eric Vaughan, CEO of IgniteTech. "As an AI-first innovation company, we recognize the fundamental shift in how customers interact with brands. AI answer engines are rapidly widening the gap between market leaders and those failing to understand the changes required to keep up. We'll deliver an AI Community Orchestrator and Brand Defender, plus a complete AI-driven Brand Intelligence Suite, all multilingual and sensitive to global cultural nuances—transforming the Khoros Communities and Khoros Service (previously Khoros Care) product lines, helping brands maintain control over their narrative."

"This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for Khoros and its customers," added Chris Tranquill, CEO of Khoros. "Our customers have built valuable communities and brand care programs now challenged by AI answer engines. By joining the IgniteTech family, they'll gain critical competitive advantages as slower-adoptive competitors see their digital investments lose relevance and value in the AI-first world."

This acquisition follows IgniteTech's complete shift into an AI-first organization, pioneering AI technologies from the ground up in less than 10 months. These innovations will now enhance the entire Khoros product suite, creating smarter, more interactive experiences across all digital touchpoints.

Enhancing the Complete Khoros Platform

IgniteTech is enhancing the entire Khoros platform—including Communities, Service and Social Media Management—with new AI features, starting with these key capabilities for Communities and Service that deliver important value:

For Khoros Communities:

AI Expert Help – Advanced AI providing immediate, multi-lingual responses, reducing response times from hours to minutes while driving higher engagement.

AI Discovery Defender – Ensures community content remains discoverable by AI systems, as unprepared competitors face 49% traffic losses following Google's AI introduction.

AI Brand Defender – Monitors what AI systems say about your brand, correcting misinformation while maintaining narrative control. Brands with sophisticated monitoring see 18% higher clickthrough rates.

AI Community Orchestration – AI tools working alongside community managers to generate content, moderate interactions, analyze sentiment and identify engagement opportunities—creating vibrant communities while surfacing actionable insights.

For Khoros Service:

Brand Intelligence Suite – Complete solution for digital brand management.

AI Brand Care Expert – Routes high-risk interactions to humans while handling routine inquiries consistently. With 83% of customers expecting immediate responses, this creates a competitive advantage.

AI Social Pulse Monitor – Detects conversation patterns invisible to conventional tools, identifying emerging issues before they impact business.

AI Creator Intelligence System – Identifies ideal creator partnerships based on authentic alignment rather than superficial metrics, with early adopters seeing 40-60% higher conversion rates.

The AI Technology Integration

IgniteTech's AI approach distinctly enhances both Khoros Communities and Khoros Service with a unified philosophy that keeps humans at the center. Rather than replacing humans with AI or leaving them struggling without assistance, the implementation creates a partnership where human expertise and AI capabilities amplify each other's strengths. Community managers and Service agents maintain control while AI handles repetitive tasks, provides instant assistance and augments human capabilities. This human-centered approach ensures that technology enhances human judgment and creativity rather than attempting to substitute for it.

Implementation Timeline

As the market divide expands between AI-enabled leaders and increasingly marginalized followers, Khoros customers will receive AI Expert Help functionality by mid Q3 2025, with AI Discovery Defender and AI Brand Defender integration following in the course of Q3 and Q4 2025. The Brand Intelligence Suite for Khoros Service will begin rolling out in parallel. A preview of the upcoming capabilities is available immediately at https://ignitetech.ai/khoros for all Khoros customers.

Jones and Spross, PLLC, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP served as counsel to IgniteTech, and Moelis & Company LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal counsel to Khoros for the transaction.

About IgniteTech

IgniteTech is a global, AI-first enterprise software company. With a track record of successful company and technology acquisitions with rapid innovation, IgniteTech's solutions power the world's businesses. Since retooling the company in 2024 to become an AI innovation organization, IgniteTech has created two new AI-powered innovations, Eloquens AI and MyPersonas, along with AI capabilities across its entire platform.

Media Contact: media@ignitetech.ai Follow: LinkedIn / X

About Khoros

Khoros' award-winning enterprise software makes it easier for complex brands to engage with customers at scale across all digital, social and brand-owned channels. Whether it is for service and support, communications or sales, the solutions powered by advanced automation and AI unlock more consistent, personalized and helpful omni-channel interactions between brands and their audiences. Khoros serves 2,000 of the world's most reputable companies, including a third of the Fortune 100, and consistently receives recognition as a Best Place to Work. For more information, please visit https://khoros.com.

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