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# Swedish-founded customer research platform Listen Labs is being acquired by Salesforce in a potential $2 billion deal
- URL: https://www.swedishtechnews.com/swedish-founded-customer-research-platform-listen-labs-is-being-acquired-by-salesforce/
- Published: 2026-09-30T06:06:36.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-30T06:26:50.000Z
- Description: Listen Labs, a San Francisco-based AI-first platform for brands doing customer research founded by the Swedish serial entrepreneur Alfred Wahlforss and the German Florian Juengermann, is being acquired by Salesforce.
- Author: Martin Weigert
- Tags: Listen Labs, Alfred Wahlforss, Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, Salesforce

[Listen Labs](https://listenlabs.ai/), a San Francisco-based AI-first platform for brands doing customer research founded by the Swedish serial entrepreneur Alfred Wahlforss and the German Florian Juengermann, is [being acquired](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/wahlforss%5Flisten-labs-is-joining-salesforce-in-january-share-7510791691440902145-vte4/) by Salesforce.

While financial details are not being disclosed, Business Insider [reported](https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-acquire-ai-startup-listen-labs-2026-9) a few weeks ago that talks with the CRM giant were ongoing, and cited a possible deal value of $2B. 

Following the report, TechCrunch then [learned](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/ai-research-startup-listen-labs-scrubbed-a-1-5b-funding-round-for-salesforce-talks/) from sources that Salesforce's interest prompted Listen Labs to walk away from a signed term sheet for a $125M Series C funding round at a $1.5B valuation. Menlo Ventures was reportedly set to lead the round.

Listen Labs has raised around $100M in funding. Sequoia Capital led a combined $27M seed and Series A round [in 2025](https://fortune.com/article/ai-startup-listen-labs-sequoia-27-million-funding/). A $69M Series B round led by Ribbit Capital followed [in early 2026](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/listen-labs-raises-69-million-series-b-to-bring-customer-voices-into-every-decision-302661000.html).

Listen Labs' two European founders met during studies at Harvard University. In 2023, they moved into a San Francisco Hacker House, and launched Merlin, an AI form that asks questions (first covered in Swedish Tech News PRO [in July 2023](https://www.swedishtechnews.com/news-july-3-2023/#news-from-swedish-startups-the-tech-sector-and-vcs)). That experimentally tool would eventually turn into Listen Labs, which officially went live in April last year.

Besides Listen Labs, Alfred Wahlforss also runs [Velocity](https://www.velocityfellows.com/), an annual non-profit program bringing entrepreneurial-minded young people from Sweden to Silicon Valley.

Alfred Wahlforss is the young brother of Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, a seasoned serial entrepreneur, most known for having co-founded and sold [Soundcloud](https://soundcloud.com/) and [Dance](https://dance.co/). He is now building [Nell](https://nell.ai/) from San Francisco. And [apparently it was Alfred](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7510793615774781440/) who convinced Eric to move to the City by the Bay.

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