Is Soul Machines still operating in 2026?

No. Soul Machines entered voluntary receivership in February 2026 with KPMG appointed as receivers. Industry directory Coverager lists its operating status as Inactive as of March 2026, and CB Insights records its stage as Bankrupt/Admin with an entry dated February 5, 2026.

Is Soul Machines profitable?

No confirmed revenue figures for Soul Machines were ever published. Despite raising roughly $119.5M to $135M across multiple rounds, the company entered receivership in February 2026, indicating it never achieved sustainable profitability before collapsing.

Could AI replace Soul Machines?

Effectively yes. Soul Machines built an animation and emotion layer atop rented third-party LLMs like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5, competing directly against native avatar features from platforms and rivals such as Synthesia, HeyGen, and D-ID, per a March 2026 analysis.

Who owns Soul Machines now?

As of February 2026, Soul Machines is in receivership with KPMG appointed to seek a buyer for the business and its assets, per third-party trackers. No confirmed acquirer had been named as of the most recent July 2026 reporting.

Who is Soul Machines' biggest competitor?

UneeQ, a fellow New Zealand-founded digital human company that co-created the original Nadia project with Soul Machines, is described as still operating as a going concern as of July 2026, while Soul Machines sits in receivership.

Did Soul Machines go bankrupt?

Yes. CB Insights lists Soul Machines' stage as Bankrupt/Admin with a funding-round entry dated February 5, 2026, and Coverager separately lists its operating status as Inactive as of March 2, 2026.

AI companies and labs · absorbed · New Zealand

Soul Machines

soulmachines.com ↗

NZ maker of animated AI avatar 'digital humans' for enterprise customer service and branding.

Little protection left

Assessed 26 July 2026 · Evidence as of 26 July 2026

Not much stands between this business and its pressures.

On the recordSince 26 July 2026 · Checkable from around August 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: KPMG receivership sale process for Soul Machines' IP and assets concludes

The call

Soul Machines is in receivership with KPMG running a sale of its patents and celebrity-avatar deals to whoever wants to relaunch the idea.

Soul Machines built animated digital characters that could chat with customers, powered by technology borrowed from OpenAI and other AI labs. The problem was that it had no unique technology of its own, meaning its two biggest investors, Salesforce and ServiceNow, could simply build talking avatars themselves into their own products, and companies like Synthesia and HeyGen were already offering cheaper avatar tools. The company filed for receivership in February 2026 and is now being liquidated, with its patents and customer contracts up for sale. The one thing that matters now is whether a buyer actually wants these assets, whether major customers like Air New Zealand and ANZ Bank have already left, and whether any job offers are real new positions or just winding down what remains.

Why

AI pressure: OpenAI and Google real-time voice/vision agents; Synthesia, HeyGen, D-ID avatar rendering. Soul Machines wrapped animation around GPT-4o and Claude; cheaper rivals and native agent tools ate the layer it sold. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Salesforce and ServiceNow. Both were investors and both now ship native AI agents inside their own platforms, cutting the need for a separate avatar vendor. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. None operating now; only its patents, Mark Sagar's animation IP, and celebrity-likeness deals have resale value to a buyer.

What would change this call

KPMG's receivership sale process names a buyer for Soul Machines' IP and patents within 6 months. Shows whether any brand or technology survives versus outright liquidation.
Air New Zealand, ANZ Bank, or Mercedes-Benz publicly confirm a switch to UneeQ, Synthesia, or another digital-human vendor. Confirms customer migration away from Soul Machines to rivals.
Salesforce or ServiceNow announces native avatar/agent features replacing third-party digital-human vendors. Would show the investor-platforms are the ones absorbing the underlying demand.

Key numbers

$70M Series B1 led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (2022-02-23)
Roughly $120M to $135M raised across all rounds (2026-02-04)
Entered voluntary receivership, KPMG appointed (2026-02-05)

Named risks

Company in receivership since February 2026 with KPMG seeking a buyer for assets. Severity: high
Core product was thin animation layer atop rented third-party LLMs, no defensible model moat. Severity: high
Equity and options likely worthless given ~$120-135M preference stack ahead of common holders. Severity: high
Vendor-claimed customer churn (Air New Zealand, ANZ Bank, Mercedes-Benz) prior to receivership, unconfirmed independently. Severity: medium
Potential investor litigation (SoftBank, Temasek, Salesforce Ventures) given scale of funding versus insolvency. Severity: medium

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
UneeQ	gaining on	Still operating and marketed as going concern as of Jul 2026 while Soul Machines is in receivership
Salesforce	contesting	Investor via Salesforce Ventures also building native AI-agent features that substitute for third-party avatar layers
ServiceNow	contesting	Distribution partner (Workforce Connect, Sep 2025) while building native Now Assist agent capability
Synthesia	gaining on	Commoditized avatar-video rendering used across Fortune 100, per 2026 vendor coverage
HeyGen, D-ID	gaining on	Cheaper asynchronous avatar generation tools cited as alternatives to Soul Machines in 2026 comparisons

Questions people ask

Is Soul Machines still operating in 2026?: No. Soul Machines entered voluntary receivership in February 2026 with KPMG appointed as receivers. Industry directory Coverager lists its operating status as Inactive as of March 2026, and CB Insights records its stage as Bankrupt/Admin with an entry dated February 5, 2026.
Is Soul Machines profitable?: No confirmed revenue figures for Soul Machines were ever published. Despite raising roughly $119.5M to $135M across multiple rounds, the company entered receivership in February 2026, indicating it never achieved sustainable profitability before collapsing.
Could AI replace Soul Machines?: Effectively yes. Soul Machines built an animation and emotion layer atop rented third-party LLMs like GPT-4o and Claude 3.5, competing directly against native avatar features from platforms and rivals such as Synthesia, HeyGen, and D-ID, per a March 2026 analysis.
Who owns Soul Machines now?: As of February 2026, Soul Machines is in receivership with KPMG appointed to seek a buyer for the business and its assets, per third-party trackers. No confirmed acquirer had been named as of the most recent July 2026 reporting.
Who is Soul Machines' biggest competitor?: UneeQ, a fellow New Zealand-founded digital human company that co-created the original Nadia project with Soul Machines, is described as still operating as a going concern as of July 2026, while Soul Machines sits in receivership.
Did Soul Machines go bankrupt?: Yes. CB Insights lists Soul Machines' stage as Bankrupt/Admin with a funding-round entry dated February 5, 2026, and Coverager separately lists its operating status as Inactive as of March 2, 2026.

Timeline

2026-03-02Coverager lists Soul Machines operating status as Inactive
2026-02-05CB Insights records Soul Machines stage as Bankrupt/Admin
2026-02Soul Machines enters voluntary receivership, KPMG appointed
2025-09-15Workforce Connect app launches on ServiceNow Store
2025-09-02Digital Workforce enterprise platform launches
2025-05-22Headcount snapshot lists 51-100 employees
2025-05-07ServiceNow Experiential AI Agents Connector partnership announced
2024-04-30Celebrity digital twins including Digital Marilyn Monroe unveiled at SXSW 2024
2022-02-23$70M Series B1 raised, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2
2016-07-14Soul Machines incorporated in Auckland, New Zealand

Revision history

26 July 2026

First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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