AppDirect Buys Soul Machines to Add AI Avatars to Business Apps

AppDirect has acquired Soul Machines, giving the business technology platform a way to put human-like avatars in front of its AI applications. Announced September 28, the deal pairs Soul Machines’ interactive characters with AppDirect’s plan to help businesses build apps through Devs.ai. The avatars are not yet described as available there: AppDirect says they are coming soon.

A face for the apps businesses build

Devs.ai is AppDirect’s platform for building business apps and AI agents. The acquisition is meant to give those projects another kind of interface: an avatar that people can interact with through text, voice or video. AppDirect says it plans to make Soul Machines’ technology available in apps built on the platform, rather than limiting those apps to text-based exchanges.

Soul Machines describes its avatars as digital characters that can see, hear and respond in real time. AppDirect is pitching them for customer support and self-service, employee training and help desks, and assistance with online purchases. Those are proposed uses of the acquired technology, not evidence that the Devs.ai integration is already serving customers.

AppDirect already runs a marketplace through which businesses can offer approved technology services and manage tasks such as billing and user access. Its stated ambition for the acquisition is different from simply adding another item to that catalog. It wants an interface businesses can use inside the AI applications they create for customers or employees.

Two parts of one deal

Soul Machines will operate as a standalone business within AppDirect’s portfolio. At the same time, AppDirect plans to bring its avatar technology into Devs.ai. That distinction matters for existing Soul Machines customers and for app builders: the company is keeping the business separate while proposing to make its technology available through another product.

The appeal, and the test

The companies’ case rests on how an interaction feels, not just what an AI app can do. Soul Machines says its avatars appear to empathize, and claims that can build trust. That is a company claim about user response, not a demonstrated outcome of this acquisition. A lifelike face may change how someone approaches a help desk or sales conversation; whether it improves the result remains a question.

For AppDirect, distribution is part of the pitch. The company says its subscription marketplace ecosystem includes more than 1,000 technology providers, 14,000 advisers and 16 million subscribers. That gives Soul Machines a potential route to businesses already connected to AppDirect. It does not show how many will adopt avatars, or how customers will respond to them.

What comes next

Financial terms were not disclosed, leaving the scale of AppDirect’s investment unclear. The company says it plans to share more about its AI strategy and product roadmap at its Thrive 2026 conference, scheduled for September 29 through October 1. For now, its promise is a forthcoming integration, not a dated release or a measured improvement in customer service.