Listen Labs walks away from $125M round amid $2B Salesforce talks
What's the deal? Listen LabsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a market research startup that uses voice AI to conduct customer interviews, signed a term sheet for a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation led by Menlo Ventures — then walked away, according to people familiar with the matter. The round never closed.
Why now? The financing likely collapsed because of acquisition talks with Salesforce, which has held discussions to buy the startup for around $2 billion, Business Insider reported. Those talks are not finalised and may not result in a deal.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2023, Listen Labs uses AI to develop survey questions and interview customers over audio or video, then packages the results into reports and PowerPoint presentations. The tool cuts the time and cost of traditional market research, which can take weeks and run expensive.
Customers include Microsoft, Canva, AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Sweetgreen. Co-founders Florian Jüngermann and Alfred Wahlforss met while pursuing master's degrees at Harvard.
By the numbers: The three-year-old startup has about $30 million in annualised revenue — roughly three times that of rival Simile, according to two people familiar with the companies' financials. In late July, Simile closed a $200 million Series B at a $2 billion valuation led by Greenoaks, likely setting a new benchmark for Listen Labs.
Listen Labs was last valued at $500 million when it announced a $69 million Series B in January led by Ribbit Capital, with returning backers Sequoia, ConvictionDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Pear VCDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
What could go wrong? Salesforce may decide that a 67 times revenue multiple is too steep, according to a person with experience negotiating exits to the company. Walking away from a signed term sheet is also rare in venture and generally frowned upon, VCs say. If the Salesforce talks collapse, several VCs expect Listen Labs to return to market targeting a $2 billion valuation or higher.
The signal: Listen Labs and Simile lead a crowded field racing to automate customer research with AI, alongside Outset, Keplar, and Aaru. Some platforms interview real humans; others, like Aaru and Simile, use AI to simulate behaviour and predict responses without interviewing anyone at all — a sign of how fast the sector, and its valuations, are moving.
Read more: TechCrunch
Image credit: Listen Labs
