Listen Labs Walks Away From $125M Series C as Salesforce Eyes $2B Acquisition
Summary
Listen Labs stuns the venture world by walking away from a signed $125M Series C term sheet, reportedly driven by Salesforce's ongoing talks to acquire the voice AI startup for approximately $2 billion.
Key Points
- Listen Labs, a voice AI market research startup, walks away from a signed $125 million Series C term sheet at a $1.5 billion valuation that was set to be led by Menlo Ventures, a rare and frowned-upon move in the venture world.
- Salesforce is in talks to acquire Listen Labs for around $2 billion, likely driving the decision to abandon the funding round, though the discussions remain unfinalized and may not result in a deal.
- If the Salesforce acquisition falls through, Listen Labs is expected to return to fundraising targeting a $2 billion or higher valuation, bolstered by its roughly $30 million in annualized revenue and customers including Microsoft, Canva, and Anthropic.