What Listen does

Listen (legal name: Listen; doing business as Listen Ventures and LISTEN.co) is a privately held, consumer-only venture capital firm headquartered in Chicago and founded in 2010 by Jeff Cantalupo. The firm backs and builds brands at the "tipping point of behavior shifts" using a concentrated investment model: Listen Ventures III deploys up to $5 million per check into roughly 12 early-stage consumer brands, while the $30 million Listen Up opportunity fund, anchored by The Pritzker Organization, provides follow-on capital to existing portfolio companies. As of January 2022, the firm reported approximately $130 million in assets under management across four funds.

The firm's core technology and intellectual property is its consumer-listening research practice, formalized in July 2022 with the hire of Ellen Wilcox as the first Head of Listening. The practice combines ethnography, in-context interviews, social listening, and human-centered design methods, and publishes the Consumer-Obsessed research series (e.g., Food as Medicine, Mindsets from the Middle, Ownable Occasions, Listen Thematics 2026). Listen has also built Cohorts by Listen®, a free, proprietary cohort-analysis software originally developed in-house for diligence and now offered to any consumer founder. Underwriting uses a four-axis framework (viability, feasibility, compatibility, desirability) that treats consumer desirability as a first-class dimension.

Listen's revenue model is classic venture fund economics: recurring management fees on committed capital plus carried interest on successful portfolio exits. The firm's most notable outcome is portfolio company Factor (Factor75), in which Listen was the largest shareholder from the seed round; Factor scaled from $20M (2018) to $110M (2020) in revenue, achieved 100% YoY growth for five consecutive years, and was acquired by HelloFresh for up to $277M in November 2020. Customer segments are twofold: (1) early-stage consumer-obsessed founders, who receive concentrated capital plus creative, brand, and consumer-research support, and (2) institutional and family-office limited partners (most notably The Pritzker Organization) who commit capital to the firm's venture and opportunity funds. Distribution and marketing are driven by owned content, the "So Curious" consumer-obsessed conference, the "Overheard" podcast, and the Cohorts software tool, all aimed at generating inbound deal flow from consumer founders.

Name

Listen

Legal name

Listen

Website

https://listen.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Listen is a Chicago-based, consumer-only venture capital firm founded in 2010 that invests in early-stage consumer brands at the tipping point of behavior shifts, managing approximately $130M AUM across four funds and providing proprietary consumer-research and creative support alongside concentrated equity capital.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Management Consulting Services (541618), Management Consulting Services (54161)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Audio Production & Podcasting (BPAFAIAE)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Consumer brand funding
• Seed-stage venture capital
• Early-stage startup funding
• Brand-building capital

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Venture capital fund management & carried interest: Listen operates four venture funds totaling $130 million in AUM (including Listen Ventures III at $62M and the Listen Up opportunity fund at $30M anchored by The Pritzker Organization). Revenue is generated from traditional VC fund economics: recurring management fees on committed capital and carried interest (performance-based economics) on successful portfolio exits such as the $277M HelloFresh acquisition of portfolio company Factor.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Listen is a consumer-obsessed venture capital firm that invests in early-stage consumer brands at the tipping point of behavior shifts, leading concentrated rounds with meaningful ownership in a deliberately small number of companies. It pairs its investment activity with a formal consumer-listening research practice, a free cohort-analytics software tool for consumer founders (Cohorts by Listen®), and an in-house creative team that helps portfolio companies translate consumer insight into brand narrative and operating execution. Listen manages approximately $130M of assets under management across four funds, including Listen Ventures III ($62M) and the Listen Up opportunity fund ($30M) anchored by The Pritzker Organization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cohorts by Listen®: Proprietary cohort analytics software built by Listen to measure and underwrite the customer relationship for consumer brand investments; offered free to any consumer founder.
• Overheard (Podcast)

Products and services

• Listen Ventures (consumer-obsessed VC firm) Concentrated, consumer-obsessed venture capital firm based in Chicago that sources and leads rounds at the most critical inflection point for building brand value, investing up to $5M per early-stage consumer brand across successive funds. Combines investment capital with proprietary consumer research and an in-house creative team to back founders building disruptive consumer brands at behavior-shift tipping points.
• Listen Up Opportunity Fund $30M opportunity fund anchored by The Pritzker Organization that allows Listen to double down on later stages of its existing portfolio companies as they scale. Operates alongside Listen Ventures III.
• Cohorts by Listen® Free cohort-analysis software built by Listen (originally an internal diligence tool migrating out of Excel) that lets consumer brand founders measure customer behavior over time — repeat purchase, marketing payback, when to scale or slow down, and which customers/channels/products create long-term value. Founders can invite Listen's team to review their dataset via [email protected].
• Consumer-Obsessed Research Series Series of proprietary research deep-dives on behavior shifts at tipping points that Listen invests against, combining ethnographic interviews, surveys, expert input, and academic literature. Published volumes include Food as Medicine, Mindsets from the Middle, Ownable Occasions, Consumer Investing in the Age of AI, Listen Thematics 2026, No Wasted Days, and Social Beverage Collision.
• Insight Newsletter (quarterly consumer insights) Quarterly consumer insights newsletter that delivers Listen's research deep-dives and tipping-point analyses directly to subscribers. Distributed via Mailchimp from listen.us19.list-manage.com.
• Overheard (Listen podcast) Listen's branded podcast series featuring founder interviews and consumer behavior conversations, distributed on Spotify (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube for individual episodes). Used as the venue for portfolio-founder storytelling, including Dame founder Alex Fine's 2020 appearance.
• So Curious Conference Listen's owned consumer-obsessed conference that convenes consumers, founders, and operators around a behavior-shift theme (most recently the shifting relationship with alcohol), reinforcing Listen's category authority and generating inbound deal flow.

Quantifiable outcome

• Portfolio company Factor scaled 100% YoY for 5 consecutive years; revenue grew from $20M (2018) to $110M (2020); exited at up to $277M to HelloFresh on $16M of paid-in capital.
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers25 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered flagship exit / strategic acquirer of a portfolio company, supporting production partner for a portfolio company, transaction advisor on portfolio exit, transaction legal counsel on portfolio exit and counterparty legal counsel on portfolio exit.

• HelloFresh SEflagship exit / strategic acquirer of a portfolio companyStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 November 2020HelloFresh acquired Listen portfolio company Factor75 for up to $277M (with $177M at closing plus up to $100M in performance-based earn-out) in November 2020, providing Listen (Factor's largest shareholder) with a major liquidity event. Listen continues to support Factor CEO Mike Apostal as a Venture Partner.
• Noon Whistle Brewingsupporting production partner for a portfolio companyStrategic or Co-development PartnerProduction joint-venture partner of Listen portfolio company Go Brewing to bolster production capacity for the non-alcoholic beer business as it scaled into multiple states and 8,000+ retail locations.
• Rothschild & Cotransaction advisor on portfolio exitImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerServed as exclusive financial advisor to Listen portfolio company Factor75 in its $277M acquisition by HelloFresh in November 2020.
• Kirkland & Ellistransaction legal counsel on portfolio exitImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerProvided legal counsel to Listen portfolio company Factor75 during its $277M sale to HelloFresh.
• Sullivan & Cromwellcounterparty legal counsel on portfolio exitImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerActed as legal counsel to acquirer HelloFresh in the $277M Factor acquisition referenced in Listen's news archive.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• True Ventures: Long-tenured early-stage firm investing in consumer and technical founders; comparable in seed-stage concentrated investing and brand-building narrative, though broader sector mandate.
• Forerunner Ventures: Kirsten Green's Forerunner is the most-cited US consumer-focused venture firm. Direct competitor for consumer-obsessed founders across CPG, DTC, and digital consumer brands, with comparable concentrated ownership and brand-building orientation.
• Lerer Hippeau: Early-stage consumer and media-focused VC based in NYC; both firms invest at the seed/Series A inflection point with concentrated check sizes into consumer brands and content-driven businesses.
• Female Founders Fund: Early-stage fund focused on consumer and female-led businesses; overlaps with Listen's portfolio categories (wellness, sexual wellness, fintech for underserved consumers) and check-size range.
• Cowboy Ventures: Seed-stage fund backing product-led consumer and enterprise startups; comparable in check size, stage focus, and founder-friendly model targeting brand-led companies.
• BBG Ventures: Early-stage consumer and tech investor focused on underrepresented founders; overlaps in stage, check size, and consumer-thesis orientation with Listen's portfolio construction.
• Felicis Ventures: Early-to-growth stage investor with deep CPG and consumer-tech exposure; comparable in consumer-brand focus and follow-on support (similar role to Listen's Listen Up opportunity fund).
• Susa Ventures: Early-stage fund investing in software-led consumer and SMB businesses; comparable seed-stage check size and concentrated ownership model.

Broad incumbents

• First Round Capital: Established early-stage platform with consumer exposure (and a dedicated 'Consumer' track historically). Larger and more diversified than Listen, but a comparable destination for seed-stage consumer founders.

Others

• Anthemis (fintech/insurtech): Digital financial services investor. Relevant because Listen has fintech/insurtech exposure (Raise, Own Up, Sigo Seguros); adjacent rather than directly competitive given Listen's broader consumer mandate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/listendotco
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/listenventures
• Instagraminstagram.com/listendotco

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments59 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Listen