Salesforce to acquire Listen Labs in reported $2 billion deal

The deal has been in the works for weeks. Business Insider broke news of the negotiations on Sept. 9, reporting a price under discussion of about $2 billion, and Salesforce said it signed a definitive agreement three weeks later. It follows Salesforce's June agreement to buy customer service automation company Fin for about $3.6 billion.

Listen Labs traces back to January 2023, when co-founders Alfred Wahlforss and Florian Juengermann moved into a San Francisco hacker house after an app they built picked up 20,000 users overnight. The platform launched in April 2025, and Listen Labs said in January that investors had put $100 million into the company in total, including a $69 million Series B in January led by Ribbit Capital. TechCrunch reported in September that the Series B valued the company at $500 million, and that Listen Labs had signed a term sheet with Menlo Ventures for a $125 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation before walking away to pursue the Salesforce talks.

The outcome hinges on regulatory clearance, which Salesforce lists as a condition for closing in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2027. For Salesforce, the appeal appears to be Listen Labs' recruiting network, which the company says reaches more than 50 million potential participants, and its digital twins, which Salesforce says let buyers' likely responses be tested before a decision is committed.