Businesses often spend weeks interviewing customers, analysing responses and preparing research reports before making important decisions about products, pricing or market expansion. By the time the findings arrive, consumer preferences and competitive conditions may already have changed. Spanish startup Autentic AI wants to close this gap by using artificial intelligence to conduct large numbers of interviews simultaneously, helping companies access consumer insights faster. The company has raised €1.5 million in pre seed funding to expand its platform and build a stronger network of verified research participants.
The funding round attracted venture capital firms Baobab Ventures, Lanai Ventures, Acurio Ventures and Masia VC. Founded by Dani Diestre, Aniol Carreras and Jacob Bamio, Autentic AI combines AI led interviews and automated analysis with human researchers who interpret the results and provide context.
Rethinking Traditional Market Research
Traditional market research can be expensive and time consuming, particularly when companies need to interview large numbers of consumers or specialist professionals. The process typically involves designing questionnaires, recruiting participants, conducting interviews, analysing responses and translating findings into recommendations.
These costs can prevent businesses from conducting research as frequently as they would like. Instead of regularly testing assumptions with customers, teams may rely on older studies or internal opinions when making decisions.
Autentic AI is attempting to make research more accessible by allowing companies to conduct interviews at a much greater scale. Its platform can interview hundreds of consumers and experts simultaneously, reducing research timelines from weeks or months to days.
The company’s approach is designed to make consumer feedback a more regular part of business planning rather than an occasional activity reserved for major projects.
AI Conducts the Interviews
Autentic AI uses artificial intelligence to conduct interviews and analyse responses across a broad range of research questions. The technology can identify recurring themes, compare answers and uncover relationships between consumer attitudes, experiences and preferences.
Human researchers remain part of the process, interpreting the findings and helping clients understand what the results mean for their businesses.
This combination is central to the company’s model. AI handles much of the repetitive work involved in gathering and processing information, while researchers provide context and help translate the evidence into useful conclusions.
Co founder and co CEO Dani Diestre believes the approach could allow companies to run studies far more frequently. When research costs around €100,000 and takes three months, he argues, businesses cannot realistically commission a new study every time they need an answer.
Verified Participants and Traceable Findings
Research quality is another important part of Autentic AI’s strategy. The company works with verified participants who receive compensation for their time, aiming to improve the reliability of responses.
Its platform also links findings to video evidence from interviews. This allows clients to examine the original responses behind particular conclusions rather than relying exclusively on an AI generated summary.
Businesses can segment findings according to characteristics such as age, region and product usage, helping them understand how opinions differ across consumer groups.
The platform currently serves four main sectors: fast moving consumer goods, retail, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and strategy consulting and private equity. These industries frequently require detailed consumer feedback to guide product development, brand positioning and investment decisions.
Scaling Research Across Industries
Autentic AI currently conducts approximately 1,000 interviews per day and expects to complete more than 400,000 by the end of 2026.
The new €1.5 million investment will support further automation across the research process and the development of an in house network of verified consumers and industry experts.
Building this network could give the company greater control over participant quality and availability while reducing its dependence on third party research panels. It could also help Autentic AI respond more efficiently to different research requirements as its customer base expands.
Making Consumer Intelligence More Accessible
Autentic AI’s broader ambition is to change how frequently businesses listen to their customers. Instead of treating research as a lengthy project with a fixed beginning and end, the company wants to make consumer intelligence available whenever important questions emerge.
Its next challenge will be to maintain research quality and meaningful human interpretation as interview volumes increase.
With fresh funding, an expanding participant network and an AI driven research platform, Autentic AI is positioning itself to make customer understanding faster, more frequent and more accessible across multiple industries.
