Salesforce Is Reportedly in Talks to Buy Listen Labs for About $2 Billion

Salesforce is reportedly in preliminary talks to acquire Listen Labs for about $2 billion. The startup uses AI to conduct and analyze customer interviews, but the discussions are ongoing and could still end without a transaction.

Listen Labs provides a customer-research platform that helps companies design studies, recruit participants, conduct interviews with an AI moderator, and analyze the results. Its voice AI can develop survey questions, interview customers over audio or video, and turn those conversations into reports and PowerPoint presentations.

The product is aimed at research work that traditionally relies on human market-research firms to collect feedback on products, brands and customer satisfaction. Listen Labs says it has a global network of 50 million participants. At its January Series B announcement, the company said it had interviewed more than 1 million people during its first nine months after launch.

$500 millionJanuary financing valuation

Business Insider, as cited by PYMNTS, reported that Listen Labs was valued at $500 million in its January financing.

$1.5 billionUnclosed Series C term sheet

TechCrunch reported that Listen Labs signed a term sheet for a $125 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation, but the financing did not close.

About $2 billionReported Salesforce talks

The reported acquisition-talk price is about $2 billion.

Listen Labs reportedly paused its planned Series C while it pursues the potential Salesforce acquisition. TechCrunch reported that the startup had signed a term sheet for a $125 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation, with Menlo Ventures expected to lead, but the financing never closed. People with knowledge of the matter told TechCrunch that the acquisition talks likely caused the financing to collapse.

TechCrunch reported that Listen Labs has about $30 million in annualized revenue, citing people familiar with the companies’ financials. Its reported customers include Microsoft, Canva, Anthropic and Sweetgreen. Those companies use the platform for a process centered on gathering and synthesizing customer feedback.

A potential attraction for Salesforce is technology that gathers and synthesizes customer feedback at scale. TechCrunch reported that buying Listen Labs could help Salesforce use AI to predict customer needs. That is a possible rationale, not a disclosed integration plan, and neither company immediately responded to TechCrunch’s requests for comment.

If the talks fail, several venture capitalists told TechCrunch they expect Listen Labs to return to the market targeting a valuation of $2 billion or higher. That expectation is not a financing plan, but it frames the price now being discussed.