Listen Labs ditched $1.5B funding to pursue Salesforce mega-deal

Listen Labs, a voice AI startup automating customer research interviews, abandoned a signed $125 million Series C at $1.5 billion valuation to pursue acquisition talks with Salesforce. The CRM giant has discussed buying the three-year-old company for roughly $2 billion, though those talks remain preliminary. Walking away from a finalized term sheet is uncommon in venture circles and typically viewed unfavorably by investors. Listen Labs generates about $30 million in annualized revenue and counts Microsoft, Canva, and Anthropic as customers. Co-founders Florian Jüngermann and Alfred Wahlforss built technology that conducts AI-powered surveys, then packages results into reports traditionally created by human researchers. If Salesforce talks collapse, VCs expect Listen Labs to return seeking $2 billion or higher valuations.