Salesforce Is in Talks to Buy Listen Labs for About $2B, and Listen Labs Killed a $1.5B Round to Take the Meeting
TechCrunch·medium signal
TechCrunch reported on September 9 that AI research startup Listen Labs scrapped a funding round that would have valued it at $1.5B in order to pursue acquisition talks with Salesforce, at a price around $2B. The deal is not signed and may not close. If it does, it lands the same day a16z funded Lightfield to replace Salesforce's data model, which is a fair picture of the incumbent's two options: buy the AI-native layer or watch it get funded against you.