Outset Plans AI-Native CX Platform following $30m Raise

Outset has raised Series B funding totalling $30m, just six months after its $17m Series A round. The firm says the money will allow it to invest more deeply in its core AI-moderated research platform, and accelerate the launch of what it claims it 'the world's first' AI-native Customer Experience Management platform.

Outset was founded by research and product developer Aaron Cannon and firefighter-turned-engineer Michael Hess. Its platform helps Fortune 500 enterprises looking for rapid but deep qual research, tapping AI to conduct and report on video interviews. Users can input guides, concepts, ads and designs, and select respondents either from Outset's set of panel integrations or their own user bases; and a 'robust enterprise toolkit' adds sophisticated analytics tools, security certifications and admin permissioning, workspaces and interviewer customization.

Announcing the new funds on its web site, the firm stated: 'For too long, researchers have had to choose between the depth and speed, or between global reach and real human nuance. We believed AI could change that, and every step of our journey since has reinforced that belief.' Outset says it looked for more funding because 'the opportunity ahead is expanding faster than expected,' with companies 'not just looking for better research' but 'reimagining how they listen to customers across the entire journey.'

The round was led by Radical Ventures with participation from M12, Microsoft's venture arm, alongside existing investors 8VC, Y Combinator and Adverb Ventures.

The company, which says it has grown eightfold in the last year, is online at www.outset.ai .