Listen Labs Walks Away From $1.5B Round for Salesforce Talks — SkimNews
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- Listen Labs signed a $125M Series C term sheet at a $1.5B valuation led by Menlo Ventures, then walked away from the signed deal — a rare move VCs say is generally frowned upon.
- Salesforce has held acquisition talks to buy Listen Labs for roughly $2 billion, though one source flagged a 67x revenue multiple as potentially too steep.
- Simile, a competing AI-research startup, closed a $200M Series B at a $2 billion valuation led by Greenoaks in late July — likely setting a new valuation benchmark for Listen Labs.
- Listen Labs had previously raised a $69M Series B at a $500M valuation in late January led by Ribbit Capital; its customers include Microsoft, Canva, Anthropic, and Sweetgreen.
- Listen Labs generates about $30 million in annualized revenue — roughly three times Simile's run rate, per sources familiar with both companies' financials.
- Co-founders Florian Jüngermann and Alfred Wahlforss launched Listen Labs in 2023 to automate customer interviews with voice AI, competing with Outset, Keplar, and synthetic-research peer Aaru.
Why it matters: A signed term sheet abandoned mid-process is virtually unheard of in venture, and Listen Labs' valuation jumped from $500M in January to a $2B-plus acquisition offer within months. Salesforce now must decide whether a 67x revenue multiple on $30M ARR is defensible, while VCs expect Listen Labs to return to market at $2B or higher if the deal collapses.
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