Handing back a signed term sheet is one of the rarest moves in venture. Listen Labs just made it.
The three-year-old market research startup had a $125M Series C at a $1.5B valuation lined up with Menlo Ventures set to lead, according to people familiar with the matter. The round never closed. Acquisition talks with Salesforce, reported at around $2B, appear to be the reason.
The product automates the slowest parts of qualitative research. Software drafts the questionnaire, interviews respondents over audio or video, and turns the answers into decks of the sort an agency would bill weeks to deliver.
Customers include Microsoft, Canva, Anthropic and Sweetgreen. The company carries roughly $30M in annualised revenue, about three times the total at rival Simile, which closed a $200M Series B in late July.
The Salesforce discussions are not final and may not produce a deal. One person familiar with negotiations suggested the CRM vendor may balk at paying a multiple near 67 times revenue.
Backers expect Listen Labs to return to market at $2B or more if the acquisition collapses. Founders Florian Jungermann and Alfred Wahlforss met at Harvard; Wahlforss previously built staffing startup Bemlo.
