AI Breakthrough: Outset Secures $17 Million to Replace Traditional Market Research with Artificial Intelligence

The dynamic startup, Outset, is replacing traditional norms of time-consuming, pricey market research by introducing a trailblazing AI-moderated platform. Bolstering its innovation with an infusion of $17 million in Series A funding, the San Francisco-based company aims to accelerate the adoption of their avant-garde solution among Fortune 500 enterprises. This funding round, helmed by 8VC with support from Future Back Ventures by Bain & Company and existing investors, pumps the company’s total funding to an impressive $21 million. With its invention, Outset has pioneered the first AI-moderated platform capable of conducting league scale video interviews with research participants at unmatched speed. The funding is timely, coming when enterprises are actively on the lookout for AI-powered market research, instead of human-led research methods that often take months to finalize and incur colossal costs. Tested by enterprise giants like Nestlé, Microsoft, and WeightWatchers, the exponential technology is proving to be a game-changer. It trims research timelines drastically by ensuring fast turnarounds and drastic cost reductions, while vastly extending reach. AI moderators conduct video interviews directly with research participants, using synthesized voice, text, images, and videos. The intelligent system simultaneously synthesizes results, magically condensing weeks of manual analysis into split-second outcomes. In contrast, traditional methods would have necessitated laborious 25 in-depth interviews over 4-6 weeks, followed by 2-4 weeks of manual analysis. Under Outset’s auspices, companies can achieve an unimaginable 250 interviews within a week, thus unburdening research teams significantly. Powerhouse Nestlé has been capitalizing on Outset’s efficient and rapid mechanism for testing new product concepts, conducting in-depth interviews with hundreds of participants over merely 1-2 days. Microsoft, on the other hand, is utilizing the affordances of Outset to gain a deeper understanding of user experiences with their AI products. The Outset revolution proves that in the world of market research, time, and thereby money, can indeed be saved, thanks to AI.