Alfred Wahlforss's startup, Listen Labs, has secured $69 million in Series B funding led by Ribbit Capital and existing investors Sequoia Capital, Conviction, and Pear VC. This brings the company's total capital to $100 million and values it at $500 million. In nine months since launch, Listen Labs has grown annualized revenue by 15x to eight figures and conducted over one million AI-powered interviews.
The platform uses open-ended video conversations to collect customer insights, replacing traditional surveys and focus groups. The speed advantage of Listen's approach has proven central to its pitch, with clients like Microsoft reporting that they can now get insights in days or hours, instead of weeks. This has allowed companies like Simple Modern and Chubbies to overcome scheduling challenges and gather more honest feedback from customers.
Listen Labs is entering a massive market, estimated at $140 billion annually, populated by legacy players vulnerable to disruption. The company's founders believe that cheaper research will create more demand, not less, citing the Jevons paradox. They are building a platform that simulates customer interactions and enables automated action based on research findings.
The company has already made an impact, with clients like Microsoft using Listen to collect global customer stories for its 50th anniversary celebration. Simple Modern used the platform to test a new product concept, while Chubbies achieved a 24x increase in youth research participation by using Listen. The company's growth suggests appetite for this experiment, with clients praising the speed and quality of results.
Listen Labs is betting that companies that listen fastest will be the ones that win in the AI era.
