Keplar, an innovative market research startup, is revolutionizing how companies gather insights into customer satisfaction by leveraging advanced voice AI technology. For decades, Fortune 500 companies relied on costly and time-consuming market research firms for this crucial data. Keplar, however, offers a significantly faster and more affordable alternative by employing voice AI to conduct customer interviews and provide comprehensive analysis.

The two-year-old company recently announced a successful seed funding round, raising $3.4 million. This funding was led by Kleiner Perkins, with notable participation from SV Angel, Common Metal, and South Park Commons. This investment underscores the growing confidence in AI-driven solutions for traditional business challenges.

The concept for Keplar originated in 2023 during the South Park Commons founder fellowship program, where co-founders Dhruv Guliani and William Wen collaborated. Guliani, a former Google engineer specializing in speech and voice AI models, partnered with machine learning engineer Wen. Their discussions with market researchers and brand managers revealed a critical insight: traditional tools like written surveys and human-led interviews could be effectively replaced by sophisticated conversational AI.

Keplar's platform simplifies the entire research process for companies. Clients can set up studies within minutes, transforming any product-related question into a detailed interview moderation guide. The startup's voice assistant then proactively reaches out to participants, asking probing questions designed to uncover what customers truly like and dislike about a product. If granted access to the client’s CRM, Keplar's AI voice researcher can directly engage with existing customers.

A key differentiator is the quality of interaction; according to Guliani, participants often forget they are speaking to an AI due to the highly realistic nature of the conversations. He notes, “These conversations feel really real. When you play everything back, you can even hear participants address the AI moderator by name: Ellie, Andrew or Ryan.” This level of engagement is made possible by recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) and voice AI, which were not feasible before.

Upon completion of the interviews, the results of these AI conversations are meticulously packaged into professional reports and PowerPoint presentations, mirroring the quality and format traditionally delivered by human market researchers. Keplar's client roster already includes prominent names such as Clorox and Intercom.

While Keplar is making significant strides, it operates in a competitive landscape. Other AI companies also aiming to disrupt the customer research market include Outset, which recently secured $17 million in a Series A round led by 8VC, and Listen Labs, which raised $27 million from Sequoia in April.