Kleiner Perkins-backed voice AI startup Keplar aims to replace traditional market research

For years, Fortune 500 companies have relied on market research firms to gain valuable insights into customer satisfaction. However, these traditional services often come with high costs and lengthy turnaround times. Enter Keplar, a pioneering market research startup that is transforming the landscape by utilizing voice AI to conduct customer interviews, delivering analysis much more rapidly and affordably than conventional research firms. On Wednesday, Keplar announced that it has successfully raised $3.2 million in seed funding, led by Kleiner Perkins and joined by investors such as SV Angel, Common Metal, and South Park Commons. The startup was founded just two years ago, with the concept emerging in 2023 when Dhruv Guliani, a former Google engineer specializing in speech and voice AI, and machine learning expert William Wen took part in the South Park Commons founder fellowship program. Through discussions with market researchers and brand managers, Guliani and Wen identified a significant opportunity: the tools relied upon by these professionals—such as written surveys and human-conducted interviews—could be effectively replaced by conversational AI. With Keplar, companies can initiate studies in mere minutes. The platform is designed to transform any product-related question into an interview guide, allowing its voice assistant to engage with participants and ask insightful questions to uncover customer preferences and aversions. If permitted access to a client's CRM system, Keplar's AI voice researcher can even reach out to existing customers for feedback. The insights gathered from these AI-led conversations are compiled into reports and PowerPoint presentations, mirroring the deliverables typically provided by human market researchers. Thanks to recent advancements in large language models, the effectiveness of voice AI has surged, with study participants sometimes completely unaware that they are interacting with an AI. "These conversations feel really real," Guliani stated, adding that participants often refer to the AI moderator by name during their discussions. Keplar’s innovative approach has already attracted notable clients, including Clorox and Intercom. The startup is not alone in its mission to revolutionize customer research; larger rivals like Outset and Listen Labs are also making significant strides, with Outset raising $17 million in a Series A funding round and Listen Labs securing $27 million from Sequoia earlier this year.