Nutter wins $23 million to encourage employees to open up about their organization through AI video interviews

Conversational intelligence startup Natter today announced that it has raised $23 million in funding to replace traditional surveys and focus groups that organizations use to gain insights from their employees.

The round was led by Renegade Partners, with participation from Kindred Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Rackhouse Ventures, Village Global, Asymmetric Capital Partners, and a number of angel investors.

Natter, formally known as Tenth Chapter Ltd, has built an artificial intelligence-based system that allows organizations to interview employees at scale. The goal is to understand employee, team member, and customer sentiment at scale and generate useful insights that inform strategies such as sales and corporate policy, the company said. By interviewing thousands of employees simultaneously, Nutter says, he can gain insights at a speed and depth that far exceeds traditional methods for generating feedback, such as surveys and research interviews.

Co-founder and CEO Charlie Woodward said he believes everyone in the organization has something important to say about it and that leaders need to hear it. “The response from organizations like Accenture, ServiceNow and Philip Morris shows how urgent the need is,” he added.

Nutter’s internal research shows that the insights AI generates from conversations are far superior to interviews, surveys, and focus groups. For example, one customer reported that just 40 minutes of conversation provided more insight than 500 hours of research interviews. At the same time, they uncovered 97% to 147% more themes than focus groups, bringing to the surface issues within the organization that leaders were completely unaware of.

Woodward explained that one reason for this is that employees generally feel “psychologically safe” to share honest opinions about their organization when talking to AI. In formal interviews where they sit face-to-face with senior staff, employees may be reluctant to speak out about specific issues that affect them for a variety of reasons, but when chatting with an AI, they are much more comfortable discussing sensitive topics. That’s because the startup takes privacy very seriously, reassuring all its employees that there’s no risk of getting into trouble for complaining or moaning about anything, as opinions remain anonymous.

Stephen Wroblewski, head of talent at Accenture Plc, summed up Natter’s ability to speak to 10,000 people a day. “That’s why you need Nutter, so you don’t have to spend weeks or months conducting hundreds of interviews and focus groups, or even longer reviewing different comments and transcripts to understand what’s important,” he said.

The wide range of insights Natter provides through conversational intelligence has caught the attention of a growing number of organizations and sparked rapid growth for startups. We were able to grow our revenue 4x in 2024 and 5x the following year, both on undisclosed grounds.

Growth was driven by expansion into the U.S. Nutter said 80% of the company’s customers are now based in the U.S., which is why the company recently moved its headquarters from London to New York City. The company plans to use today’s funding to expand its engineering, data, and product teams to accelerate its momentum.

Renata Quintini, co-founder and managing director of Renegade Partners, said employees struggle to have their voices heard through outdated surveys and research. “Natter’s purpose-built infrastructure for real-time video capture and its unparalleled longitudinal datasets generate AI-native, defensible insights that businesses urgently need in sales, strategy, and human resources,” she said. “We are poised to redefine how companies listen, learn and act.”

Image: Nutter