Sequoia Backed Listen Labs Uses AI to Talk to Thousands of Customers All at Once

For years, companies have claimed to be “customer-obsessed.” In practice, that often meant running a survey once a year or organizing a costly focus group that delivered delayed and diluted insights. Real conversations with actual users let alone thousands of them were logistically impossible. So the vast majority of feedback vanished into the void.

Listen Labs, a startup that has quietly built a new approach to customer research, is now emerging with $27 million in funding from Sequoia Capital. The company uses AI to run thousands of voice and video interviews simultaneously across geographies and demographics. Instead of surveys or structured forms, customers just talk and the AI listens, asks follow-ups, and compiles insights into reports, highlight reels, and even PowerPoint presentations.

Introducing Listen... https://t.co/5ZHOhKD7Xh

— Listen Labs (@ListenLabs) April 23, 2025

The Seed and Series A rounds were both led by Sequoia’s Bryan Schreier, an early investor in Qualtrics. Schreier had been looking for a company to disrupt the $40 billion market research industry, long dominated by expensive consultancies. “Most companies are pretty limited in the pursuit of being customer-obsessed,” he said. “You can put analytics on your websites and run a focus group maybe once a year through a market research company, but it’s expensive. It takes a long time. The feedback loop is delayed, and it’s just not ideal.”