Outset, the world’s first AI-moderated research platform, today announced a $17 million Series A round, bringing its total funding to $21 million. The round was led by 8VC, with participation from Future Back Ventures (founded by Bain & Company) and existing investors including Y Combinator, Adverb Ventures, Rebel Fund, Genius Ventures, Ritual Capital, and Alt Capital.
Outset will use the capital to grow its team and expand product capabilities with the goal of building the most advanced AI research agents on the market.
Reimagining Research with AI Agents
Outset transforms how companies conduct qualitative research by offering the depth of one-on-one interviews with the speed and scale of a survey. The platform uses autonomous AI agents to conduct real-time interviews via video, voice, and usability testing, and delivers instant synthesized reports—all within an enterprise-ready infrastructure.
“We designed AI agents to do what we couldn’t—talk to thousands of people at scale, with depth that wasn’t previously possible,” said Aaron Cannon, co-founder and CEO of Outset.
Outset’s platform enables researchers to input guides, designs, prototypes, or ads, and then allows AI agents to engage directly with participants across any language and time zone. Researchers receive automated analysis and insights, reducing time-to-decision dramatically.
Market Traction and Customer Growth
Over the past year, Outset has seen:
- 10x growth in customer usage
- Nearly 20% month-over-month revenue growth
- Adoption by major brands like Microsoft, Nestlé, and WeightWatchers
Nestlé, for example, reported that Outset’s platform was 8x faster and captured 10x more interviews than legacy methods.
“We’re excited to partner with Outset to scale our team’s ability to learn from users,” said Jess Holbrook, Head of Research at Microsoft AI. “This is especially critical for us as a business centered around AI.”
The Outset Advantage
What sets Outset apart:
- AI moderators that autonomously conduct multilingual interviews
- Panel integrations or custom userbase recruitment
- Real-time reporting and advanced analytics
- Enterprise-grade security (permissions, certifications, data segregation)
- Human-like depth with machine speed and availability
“People often ask if AI makes research less personal,” said Cannon. “Ironically, we’ve seen interviewees open up more to AI agents than human researchers—creating a path to deeply human insights at global scale.”
Backed by Visionary Investors
Jack Moshkovich, Partner at lead investor 8VC, added:
“Outset solves a classic AI use case. It bridges the gap between deep but expensive interviews and cheap but shallow surveys—unlocking powerful insights that were previously out of reach for most businesses.”
Co-founders Aaron Cannon, a researcher and product leader, and Michael Hess, a firefighter-turned-engineer, bring a rare blend of empathy and technical rigor to building AI that listens at scale.
Looking Ahead: Scaling Enterprise Insight with AI
With this funding, Outset is positioned to expand deeper into design, UX, and customer experience research, arming Fortune 500s with a new generation of always-on, insight-generating agents.
As the need to deeply understand users becomes more urgent and complex, Outset is leading a new era of AI-powered qualitative research—one that’s fast, rich in context, and radically scalable.
