Many large companies struggle to understand how employees feel. This problem stems from relying on outdated tools, such as annual surveys, quarterly check-ins, and focus groups, rather than from simple distrust.
Natter was founded in 2021 by Charlie Woodward, who previously worked at the BBC and Uber, and by James Stevens, who previously worked at Google and Uber. The company wants to move away from static surveys and instead use dynamic conversations.
Based in New York, Natter just raised $23 million, led by Renegade Partners. Other investors include Kindred Capital, Costanoa Ventures, Rackhouse Ventures, Village Global, and Asymmetric Capital Partners. CEOs and co-founders from Peakon, Beamery, Tessian, and Indeed also invested, bringing valuable HR tech experience and insight into the problems Natter is trying to solve.
How does it work?
The platform runs thousands of AI-powered one-on-one video conversations simultaneously with employees, customers, or other groups and delivers organised insights within hours. This method avoids the problems of traditional focus groups, which can create social or workplace pressure.
Natter’s one-on-one format removes this issue and makes sure no one can trace answers back to individuals. The AI automatically removes personal details; participation is always based on consent; and, as Woodward tells TFN, “it is technologically impossible to pinpoint who said what at an individual level on Natter.”
The company says this approach helps people share thoughts they might keep to themselves in group settings. Woodward explains, “Conversations improve anonymity by their very nature and our research showed that people felt much more psychologically safe sharing candid views in conversations than interviews, focus groups or surveys.”
Direct competitors include Qualtrics and Medallia, valued at about $9 billion and $5 billion, but mainly offer survey platforms with AI analytics. Natter, in contrast, offers live, simultaneous, AI-moderated conversations at scale with real-time analysis.
What comes next
More than 80% of Natter’s revenue so far has come from word of mouth, without a sales team. The company grew by 4 times in 2024 and by 5 times in 2025. Growing this quickly without a formal sales strategy shows strong demand for the product or that the company is still early in its journey.
The $23 million will go toward infrastructure, engineering, better platform integrations, and a Customer Success team for Fortune 500 clients.
“Natter’s purpose-built infrastructure for real-time video capture and its unmatched longitudinal dataset create AI-native, defensible insights when companies urgently need them across sales, strategy, and HR. With applicability across a ~$180B and fast-growing set of markets, Natter is poised to redefine how enterprises listen, learn, and act,” said Renata Quintini, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Renegade Partners.
