Salesforce is acquiring Listen Labs, an AI customer research platform, in a deal that multiple outlets report at roughly $2 billion — though Salesforce did not disclose financial terms.

The companies announced a definitive agreement late Tuesday. The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal fourth quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions.

Listen Labs uses AI to help companies design research, recruit participants, conduct interviews and analyze responses. Salesforce says the startup has access to a network of more than 50 million research participants and can conduct interviews in more than 120 languages.

The acquisition gives Salesforce a way to bring qualitative customer research closer to the customer data already sitting in its platform. Salesforce says Listen Labs will complement Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud and provide additional context to its AI agents.

From side project to $2 billion exit

Alfred Wahlforss and Florian Juengermann founded Listen Labs in 2023. Wahlforss said the idea grew out of an AI interviewer the two built after an app they created suddenly attracted 20,000 users and they wanted to understand who those users were.

"What started as an AI interviewer is now a full platform for understanding customers," Wahlforss wrote when announcing the deal. "Listen finds the right people, interviews them, analyzes what they say, and even simulates how they'll behave."

That simulation capability is one of the more notable pieces of the deal. Listen Labs creates what it calls digital twins — AI simulations intended to help companies test how customers might respond to products, messages or ideas. Salesforce says the simulations are grounded in customer behavior and can be used before conducting further testing with people.

Listen Labs will join Salesforce AI Labs. Wahlforss will remain CEO and Juengermann will remain CTO, according to Wahlforss.

What it means for marketers

For marketers, the acquisition could turn customer research into another data source within CRM-driven workflows, rather than something that lives primarily in research reports and presentations.

One distinction will matter as that shift happens. Interviews capture what recruited participants say; AI simulations estimate what customers might say or do. If Salesforce eventually makes both available to agents making recommendations or taking actions, marketers will need to know which type of evidence an agent is using.

Salesforce hasn't detailed how Listen Labs will be integrated or which agent workflows will use its data. For now, the deal signals that Salesforce wants customer research to sit closer to the systems that make customer decisions — and to the AI agents acting on their behalf.