Listen Labs, a startup revolutionizing customer research with AI-powered interviews, has raised $69 million in Series B funding, valuing the company at $500 million. The funding, led by Ribbit Capital with participation from Evantic, Sequoia Capital, and existing investors, underscores growing confidence in the company’s disruptive approach to market research.
The company’s journey began with a viral billboard stunt in San Francisco, where a challenge to solve a coding puzzle to gain access to a secretive AI interview process attracted over 5 million social media views. This stunt was emblematic of the fierce competition for top AI talent in the Bay Area, where early employees joined before the company had a working toilet.
Listen Labs’ core innovation lies in its ability to conduct rapid, scalable customer interviews using AI, replacing the traditional trade-off between surveys and in-depth interviews. The company’s AI not only transcribes and analyzes conversations but also identifies product issues — such as scratchy shorts in a children’s line — that might otherwise go unnoticed.
CEO Alfred Wahlforss believes that AI-powered research is not just replacing legacy methods but creating new demand, citing the Jevons paradox — where efficiency leads to increased consumption. “As something gets cheaper, you don’t need less of it. You want more of it,” he said.
The company’s engineering team, many of whom are former international programming Olympiad medalists, is building tools that go beyond interviews. Listen Labs is developing capabilities to simulate synthetic customers and automate decisions based on research findings, all while maintaining strict privacy and ethical safeguards.
Microsoft’s product manager, who has adopted Listen Labs’ tools, described the platform as removing the “drudgery” of research and bringing “fun and joy back into my work.” Other companies like Sling Money and Chubbies are also embracing the platform, using it to create surveys in minutes and receive results in hours.
As Listen Labs continues to grow — from 5 to 40 employees in 2024, with plans to reach 150 this year — its vision extends beyond research. The company is exploring how AI can enable continuous feedback loops in product development, potentially automating the cycle of coding, testing, and iteration. This could redefine how startups and enterprises approach product innovation in the AI era.
Wahlforss’s philosophy is clear: “Slow is fake.” In an industry built on methodological caution, Listen Labs is betting that speed, when combined with quality and AI, will lead to better outcomes — and ultimately, a faster path to market success.
