Salesforce is buying an AI startup that wants to make customer research operate at software speed.
The company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Listen Labs, an AI customer research and simulation platform. Salesforce did not disclose financial terms, although MarTech reported that the deal is expected to be worth about $2 billion.
The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal fourth quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.
Listen Labs uses AI agents to design research studies, recruit participants, conduct interviews, and synthesize responses. Salesforce said the platform can reduce research timelines from months to days, drawing on a network of more than 50 million potential participants and conducting interviews in more than 120 languages.
“Companies have always wanted to hear from every customer, but until now it was only possible to talk to a handful,” Alfred Wahlforss, CEO and co-founder of Listen Labs, said. “With AI, a company can now have thousands of real conversations at once and even simulate how customers will respond before making a move.”
From customer feedback to AI decisions
The acquisition is designed to bring qualitative research closer to Salesforce’s CRM data and AI systems. Listen Labs will complement Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud and become part of Salesforce AI Labs.
The startup also offers digital twins, AI simulations based on real customer behavior that can help companies explore potential reactions to products, marketing messages or other ideas before conducting additional testing with people.
Wahlforss said Listen Labs began with an AI interviewer created after an app built by the founders suddenly gained 20,000 users. The company launched its current platform in April 2025 and counts Microsoft and Anthropic among its customers.
The company raised $69 million in a Series B round in January at a $500 million valuation, according to Techzine. TechCrunch also reported that Listen Labs had signed a term sheet for a $125 million financing at a $1.5 billion valuation before pursuing the Salesforce deal.
What changes for Salesforce customers and partners
The acquisition could make customer research more directly usable inside Salesforce’s CRM, marketing and service workflows instead of leaving interview findings in separate reports or research platforms.
For customers and implementation partners, that creates both opportunity and complexity. Listen Labs could give teams another source of customer context for AI-driven marketing, service and product decisions, while creating new integration and governance work around how that information is used.
The most important distinction will be between direct customer evidence and simulated responses. Interviews capture feedback from recruited people, while digital twins generate modeled reactions based on customer behavior. As those outputs feed into AI agents, businesses will need clear context about which type of evidence is driving a recommendation.
Salesforce has not yet detailed how Listen Labs will be integrated into specific products or agent workflows. The practical test will be whether customers can use the added context without blurring the line between what customers actually said and what an AI model predicts they might say.
Other news: Samsung and five affiliates are investing a combined $1 billion in Nvidia-backed Helix Digital Infrastructure to support data centers, power, connectivity, cooling, and other infrastructure needed for expanding AI workloads.