Amdocs expands AI ambitions through acquisition of Israeli startup Yess
The telecom software giant is integrating autonomous AI agents into its core operations platform.
Israeli software giant Amdocs is strengthening its push into artificial intelligence by bringing in the founders and development team of startup Yess, a young company focused on autonomous AI agent systems that has operated largely under the radar since its founding in 2023.
The companies declined to disclose the value of the transaction, though industry estimates place it at between $8 million and $10 million. Yess, which employs 13 people, has raised roughly $7 million since its founding.
The move reflects the intensifying race among large enterprise software companies to build “agentic AI” systems, software designed not only to assist employees, but to autonomously execute complex organizational tasks across multiple systems and workflows.
Founded by former AWS Israel executives Jonathan Bregman, Ido Perlson, Matan Zutta, and David Feldstein, Yess developed AI agent systems for enterprise customers. The four founders previously spent six years together at Amazon Web Services, where they led activities spanning sales, cloud architecture, and infrastructure operations before launching Yess in July 2023 with backing from S Capital.
The entire founding and development team will join Amdocs’ Generative AI and Data division, established about a year ago as the company accelerated investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and products.
The division, led by senior vice president Ilan Sade, oversees Amdocs’ AI strategy, engineering, product development, and go-to-market operations. Among its initiatives is what the company calls an “Agentic Operating System,” or aOS, designed specifically for telecom providers.
“AI agent systems are redefining our industry, and Amdocs is proud to stand at the forefront of this revolution,” Sade said in a statement announcing the deal.
The acquisition also underscores a broader trend sweeping through enterprise software: large incumbents are increasingly seeking small, specialized AI teams rather than building agentic capabilities entirely in-house. In recent months, companies across sectors ranging from cybersecurity to enterprise workflow automation have accelerated acquisitions of AI-native startups in an attempt to shorten development timelines and secure scarce engineering talent.
Jonathan Bregman, Yess co-founder and CEO, said the integration into Amdocs would allow the startup’s technology and team to operate at far greater scale.
“Amdocs sits at the core of operations for nearly all major service providers in the world,” Bregman said. “The Yess team will now have the opportunity to help Amdocs accelerate the entire telecom industry toward a future of AI agents.”
