AppDirect has acquired Soul Machines, bringing the AI avatar company’s multimodal digital-teammate technology into a B2B subscription commerce platform used by more than 16 million subscribers. The transaction gives AppDirect a way to combine conversational, video-based AI interfaces with its distribution and commerce infrastructure as enterprise AI moves from chatbots toward agents that can perform tasks across business workflows.
Enterprise AI interfaces are changing quickly. Text-based copilots and chatbots are giving way to systems that can access business data, use tools and execute tasks. AppDirect’s acquisition of Soul Machines adds another dimension to that transition: a human-facing interface built around digital avatars capable of communicating through voice, video and other modalities.
The acquisition, announced September 28, 2026, brings Soul Machines into AppDirect’s portfolio as a standalone business. Financial terms were not disclosed. AppDirect says more than 1,000 technology providers, 14,000 advisors and 16 million subscribers use its ecosystem, creating a distribution channel for Soul Machines’ AI technology.
Soul Machines has spent years developing what it calls digital teammates—AI-powered characters designed to see, hear and respond in real time. Its technology combines a patented Digital Brain with Autonomous Animation technology to create more lifelike interactions across text, voice and video.
The acquisition gives AppDirect a technology layer that differs from conventional enterprise AI assistants. Instead of presenting AI primarily through a chat window, Soul Machines focuses on an embodied interface in which users interact with a digital character.
That distinction becomes more relevant as enterprise AI moves toward agentic workflows.
Gartner’s April 2026 research describes enterprise AI assistants as AI-first applications that combine generative AI with capabilities such as retrieval-augmented generation, reasoning, agentic tools and enterprise security. The research describes these assistants as becoming a front door for employees to research information, analyze data and streamline work.
Soul Machines is targeting a similar interaction layer, but with a stronger emphasis on presence and multimodal communication.
From digital assistants to digital teammates
The company’s current applications include employee-facing questions around areas such as HR and IT. Its roadmap also includes learning and development applications, training-video creation, live coaching and role-play simulations, according to the announcement.
Over time, Soul Machines expects digital teammates to move from providing information to performing tasks across business systems.
The distinction is important. An AI assistant that explains how to order inventory still leaves the employee responsible for carrying out the transaction. An agent that can interpret the request, access an approved supplier system and complete the order becomes an operational participant.
AppDirect says the acquisition will help businesses deploy interactive AI across sales, service, support, commerce, learning and development, onboarding and employee help desks. Its separate announcement says Soul Machines technology is also expected to be embedded within Devs.ai, allowing users to deploy interactive avatars in internal or external projects.
That positions the acquisition at the intersection of AI agents, enterprise applications and customer experience technology.
Distribution becomes part of the AI stack
For Soul Machines, AppDirect’s distribution network addresses one of the persistent challenges facing specialized AI software: reaching businesses at scale.
AppDirect operates a B2B subscription commerce platform connecting technology providers, advisors and businesses. The company says its ecosystem includes more than 16 million subscribers. It has also recently expanded through acquisitions, including PartnerStack and CCI Network Services.
The combination means Soul Machines does not have to rely solely on direct enterprise sales to expand its technology. AppDirect’s advisors and technology-provider ecosystem can potentially become another route through which businesses discover, purchase and deploy AI applications.
That matters as enterprise AI shifts from standalone experimentation toward software embedded in existing workflows.
Gartner estimates worldwide AI spending will reach $2.59 trillion in 2026, with AI infrastructure accounting for more than 45% of total spending. The firm also expects enterprises to expand their use of generative AI models embedded in existing software and AI agents across multiple workflows.
At the application layer, Gartner forecasts that cross-functional AI agents and assistants will become a major enterprise software category, with spending projected to exceed $23 billion by 2030.
The interface question
The acquisition also raises a broader question about how people will interact with enterprise AI.
Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Salesforce are among the major technology companies embedding AI assistants and agents into business software. Many of those experiences remain primarily screen- and text-oriented, although voice and multimodal capabilities are expanding.
Soul Machines is approaching the problem from the interface outward. Its digital humans are intended to make AI interactions feel closer to face-to-face communication, particularly in situations where customer trust, employee training or guided interaction matters.
That does not eliminate the technical challenges.
A visually convincing avatar does not by itself make an AI agent reliable. Enterprise deployments still require accurate data, access controls, workflow integration, monitoring and safeguards around autonomous actions. Gartner’s research on enterprise AI assistants emphasizes enterprise security and integration alongside reasoning and agentic capabilities.
The economics of agentic AI are another consideration. Gartner says AI agents can disrupt traditional enterprise software models because agents can perform tasks across multiple applications without users interacting directly with every underlying interface. The firm estimates up to $234 billion of enterprise application spending could be exposed to this “agentic arbitrage” between now and 2030.
That creates an interesting position for AppDirect. Its existing business is built around helping companies buy, sell and manage subscription technology, while Soul Machines is developing an interface that could increasingly allow users to interact with software through an AI intermediary.
The acquisition therefore is not simply about adding avatars to an AI marketplace. It connects three trends—AI agents, multimodal interfaces and B2B software distribution.
AppDirect plans to showcase the next generation of Soul Machines experiences at its Thrive 2026 event. The company’s stated goal is to make these experiences available through its broader ecosystem, while Soul Machines customers gain access to AppDirect’s integrations, distribution channels and enterprise commerce infrastructure.
As enterprise AI develops, the competitive question is increasingly not only which model powers an agent, but how people access that agent and how easily it can act inside existing business systems. Soul Machines gives AppDirect one answer: a persistent, visual and conversational interface designed to sit between people and increasingly autonomous AI workflows.
Market Landscape
Enterprise AI is shifting from standalone chatbots toward assistants and agents capable of retrieving information, using tools and executing multistep workflows. Gartner identifies enterprise AI assistants as a growing application category and forecasts more than $23 billion in spending on cross-functional AI agents and assistants by 2030.
The competitive landscape includes Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Amazon’s enterprise AI services, Salesforce Agentforce, OpenAI and specialized agent platforms. The differentiation is increasingly moving beyond underlying LLM performance toward enterprise context, workflow integration, governance and user experience.
Soul Machines adds a different dimension through digital humans and multimodal interaction. AppDirect’s distribution model provides a route for that technology to reach businesses through existing technology providers and advisors.
Top Insights
- AppDirect acquired Soul Machines to add multimodal digital-teammate technology to its B2B subscription commerce ecosystem.
- Soul Machines develops AI avatars designed to see, hear and respond in real time across text, voice and video.
- AppDirect says more than 16 million subscribers use its ecosystem of technology providers, advisors and subscription marketplaces.
- Gartner projects cross-functional AI agents and assistants will exceed $23 billion in spending by 2030.
- The acquisition connects AI agents with a more human-centered interface and an established B2B software distribution channel.
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