Yelp Acquires Hatch To Boost Lead Management

Yelp announced on Jan. 21 that it will acquire AI-powered customer communication platform Hatch for roughly $270 million in cash plus $30 million in employee retention payments, with the deal expected to close in early February. Yelp said it will integrate Hatch’s conversational AI lead-management tools to help service businesses improve retention and automate SMS, email and phone interactions.