Strella Secures $14 Million to Enhance AI-Powered Customer Research Platform

Strella, a fast-growing startup focused on AI-driven customer research, has announced a successful $14 million Series A funding round. This funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners and supported by Decibel Partners, Bain Future Back Ventures, MVP Ventures, and 645 Ventures, reflects a growing trend among enterprises leveraging artificial intelligence to gain deeper and faster insights into customer behavior.

Founded by Lydia Hylton and Priya Krishnan, two former consultants and product managers, Strella has made significant strides since its inception, tripling its average contract values and quadrupling its customer base to over 40 enterprises, including notable names like Amazon and Chobani. Hylton noted, "Research tends to be bookended by two very strategic steps: first, we have a problem—what research should we do? And second, we’ve done the research—now what are we going to do with it? The middle 90% of the work is where we come in."

Transforming Customer Research Processes

Strella's platform addresses long-standing challenges in customer research, which traditionally could take up to eight weeks. By utilizing AI to moderate voice-based interviews that resemble Zoom calls, the company significantly reduces the research timeline to mere days. The AI not only poses questions but also follows up on intriguing responses and identifies evasive behavior from participants.

According to Hylton, "It used to take eight weeks. Now you can do it in the span of a couple of days." The platform has achieved a remarkable 90% average time savings on manual research tasks, helping teams make critical product decisions more efficiently.

Enhanced Honesty Through AI Moderation

A surprising finding from Strella's approach is that participants often provide more honest feedback when interacting with AI moderators compared to human researchers. Hylton explained that participants tend to be more forthright when they are not concerned about offending a human interviewer. This dynamic has led to richer insights for companies utilizing the platform.

Brian Santiago, Senior Product Design Manager at Apollo GraphQL, remarked, "Before Strella, studies took weeks. Now we get insights in a day—sometimes in just a few hours. The feedback is deeper and more honest with the AI moderator."

Innovative Mobile Application and Future Plans

With the new funding, Strella aims to expand its recently launched mobile application, which supports persistent screen sharing during interviews—allowing researchers to observe user navigation in real time while receiving feedback. Hylton emphasized, "We are the only player in the market that supports screen sharing on mobile," which opens up new avenues for customer research.

As the company looks to the future, it plans to enhance visual capabilities for the AI moderator to interpret nonverbal cues and improve collaboration between human researchers and AI systems. The founders believe that human involvement in research will remain crucial, with Hylton stating, "We believe that a lot of the really strategic work that companies do will continue to be human moderated."

Conclusion

Strella's innovative approach to customer research is not only gaining traction among established enterprises but is also expanding the scope of research practices across industries. As organizations increasingly recognize the importance of understanding customer perspectives, Strella is well-positioned to lead the charge in democratizing access to valuable insights.

Rocket Commentary

Strella's recent $14 million Series A funding underscores a pivotal moment in the integration of AI within customer insights. The startup's rapid growth, including partnerships with industry giants like Amazon and Chobani, illustrates the potential for AI to transform how businesses understand consumer behavior. However, as we celebrate these advancements, it is crucial to ensure that AI tools remain accessible and ethically developed. The impressive metrics of tripling contract values and quadrupling customer bases hint at a robust market demand, yet they also raise questions about data privacy and the ethical implications of AI-driven research. As the industry evolves, fostering transparency and inclusivity will be essential to harness AI's transformative power responsibly.