Listen Labs has walked away from a $1.5 billion funding round that was set to be led by Menlo Ventures, a rare occurrence that several VCs said is generally frowned upon in the venture world. The financing likely collapsed because the startup was in acquisition talks with Salesforce, which has held discussions to buy Listen Labs for around $2 billion, though the talks are not finalized and may not result in a deal.
The three-year-old startup automates customer research with AI that develops survey questions and conducts audio or video interviews, packaging the results into reports and presentations similar to those produced by human market researchers. Listen Labs has about $30 million in annualized revenue—roughly three times more than competitor Simile—and counts Microsoft, Canva, Anthropic, and Sweetgreen among its customers. Simile recently closed a $200 million Series B at a $2 billion valuation, which sources suggest sets a benchmark for Listen Labs' potential future valuation.
Founded in 2023 by Florian Jüngermann, a former German national champion in competitive computer programming, and Alfred Wahlforss, who previously founded staffing startup Bemlo, Listen Labs may ultimately decide to return to market seeking a $2 billion-plus valuation if the Salesforce talks collapse. However, one person with experience negotiating exits to Salesforce indicated the CRM giant may deem a 67 times revenue multiple too steep.