Afiniti is set to exit Chapter 15 bankruptcy following court approvals of a recapitalization transaction.
The company secured the transaction by working with lenders led by Vista Credit Partners and The Resource Group International Ltd., a significant shareholder.
By doing so, Afiniti has bounced back from bankruptcy quickly, which it filed with the Delaware courts on November 3, 2024.
That filing ensured protection from the US courts as the contact center AI vendor evaluated how to pay back the money it owed, inside and outside the country.
Two months previously, Afiniti also entered provisional liquidation in Bermuda, reporting $580MN in liabilities. However, the recapitalization transaction has been approved in Bermuda, too.
Now, Afiniti claims it can move forward with a stronger financial foundation to accelerate growth.
“The close of our recapitalization transaction provides exciting opportunities for Afiniti to further invest in next-generation technologies and unlock new avenues for growth,” said Hassan Afzal, CEO of Afiniti.
With additional resources, we will have renewed flexibility to build on our strengths, expand our capabilities, and continue delivering cutting-edge AI solutions that empower our customers to enhance their customer experience journeys.
“This is a pivotal moment in Afiniti’s evolution, and we are thrilled about all the possibilities ahead.”
That evolution has stalled in recent years, particularly after the company endured significant bad press over grim allegations of sexual misconduct against its founder.
Nevertheless, under different leadership and a CEO appointed in January 2024, Afiniti senses it can re-establish itself as an innovator in customer experience, leveraging a solid brand presence.
Indeed, since its foundation as an early call center AI provider in 2006, it has achieved significant market success with a routing engine that leverages caller data to pair customers with the best-placed service rep.
Still, routing solutions are its specialty, with AT&T, Verizon, and Virgin amongst its install base. However, now Afiniti’s offerings are omnichannel and industry-specific.
With its new funds, Afiniti plans to expand on this portfolio – as Afzal suggested. That’s crucial, as routing has largely become absorbed by CCaaS vendors, and while it may still have success in legacy environments, the industry is slowly but surely shifting to the cloud.
Moreover, the company must stay relevant as budgets shift toward AI agents and other generative and predictive AI applications.
It can’t play a game of smoke and mirrors here. The days of CFOs funding AI in CX experiments are over. Now, they are demanding value and tangible results.
Thankfully, Brendan Renehan, Managing Director at Vista Credit Partners, appears to have faith in the company’s path forward.
“We are pleased to have completed this recapitalization process and are focused on continuing to deliver value and innovative AI-powered solutions to Afiniti’s customers,” he said.
Vista Credit Partners has long been an operationally focused financing partner, and we look forward to welcoming Afiniti to the Vista ecosystem and leveraging our deep expertise in enterprise software to help them chart an ambitious path forward.
Ultimately, that path must be ambitious, as vendors specializing in one specific AI feature must evolve or be acquired. Otherwise, financial wobbles are almost inevitable.
Thankfully, some have had success in their expansions. Take Sprinklr, once a vendor best known for offering a social media scheduling tool. Now, it’s a prominent CCaaS, AI, and analytics provider.
However, success is far from guaranteed in such a busy CX space.
Prominent industry analysts gave their take on Afiniti’s plight into bankruptcy during a recent episode of CX Today’s Big News Update. Listen to their takes and catch up here.
