Salesforce has held talks to acquire Listen Labs, an AI-powered qualitative research platform, for a figure in the region of $2 billion. The discussions, reported by Business Insider, do not amount to a definitive agreement and could still fail to result in a transaction.
Listen Labs automates interviews and qualitative analysis that traditionally require researchers, time, and large budgets. The company claims to have recorded very rapid growth and to work with major clients.
The CRM wants to listen
Salesforce is building Agentforce around the idea that agents can execute business tasks. But a useful agent must also understand customer intentions, objections, and language. Acquiring research technology would mean adding a layer of knowledge to that of execution.
The valuation under discussion also shows how much value the market places on qualitative data when it can be turned into a software pipeline. The next CRM might not be limited to recording what the customer did: it could continuously seek to understand why they did it.
