Voice AI Startup Keplar Seeks Market Research Shake-Up

Kleiner Perkins-backed voice AI startup Keplar has got financial backing and plans to change how businesses understand their customers.

Keplar announced the general availability of Keplar Voice, a conversational AI system that conducts customer interviews through natural voice interactions. The company also announced their $3.4 million seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from SV Angel, Common Metal, and South Park Commons. San Francisco-based Keplar will use the funds for recruitment and technical investments in conversational AI.

“Every company wants to understand their customers deeply, but the current tools make it nearly impossible,” said Dhruv Guliani, co-founder and CEO of Keplar. “A single moderated interview can cost hundreds of dollars and takes weeks to schedule. We’re making it possible for any company to have real conversations with hundreds of customers simultaneously, getting rich qualitative insights at quantitative scale.”

Natural conversations

Keplar Voice brings together multiple agentic AI technologies to offer a research solution. It enables natural voice conversations where AI moderators conduct adaptive interviews and respond to participant answers in real time. Participants are recruited either through Keplar’s panel or a company’s CRM.

As interviews take place, automated analysis is performed by AI agents that code responses, identify themes, and quantify insights. This continuous processing means results are generated as the research unfolds. To support decision-making, Keplar Voice produces enterprise-ready reporting in the form of sharable reports and executive dashboards.

Fortune 500 companies in consumer packaged goods, software, and retail already use Keplar Voice for foundational research, concept testing, user experience research, and win-loss analysis.

Changing models

The survey and focus group model that ruled for generations is potentially looking obsolete, and this may have consequences for every company that depends on consumer insights.

As synthetic data transforms research by letting brands test concepts without traditional surveys, and voice analysis solutions became essential for decoding behavior through speech analytics, Keplar’s approach is intriguing for market intelligence.

Real-time emotion AI now analyzes facial expressions, vocal tones, and micro-expressions for sentiment insights, while gaze tracking and engagement heatmaps detect what consumers focus on in ads, websites, and packaging.

Traditional research is not just dated, it can be a drag in a fast-moving market. Synthetic video-based consumer testing now generates realistic consumer reactions to simulate responses before launch, and synthetic data helps brands test new concepts without relying on real-world surveys.

Operations are changing too. AI co-pilots are changing the game for researchers who need to do more with less, and platforms create central places for research findings that make work faster, simpler, and more iterative. One platform even reported an ROI of 319% over three years and $2.7 million in net benefits, a clear sign of the financial upside of modernizing.

Then there is the signal you can see. Video feedback now allows for detailed insights, letting teams read between the lines through mannerisms and expressions. Traditional surveys could not capture that nuance, which means entire categories of insight now sit out of reach for competitors who stay on the old path.