Marquee Ventures, Listen Ventures, and Thayer Investment Partners join [cafeteria] investors Imaginary Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Bertelsmann and Guy Oseary. The company, which has experienced 2x growth in 2025, is investing in enterprise products and best-in-class AI capabilities.

cafeteria, the category-defining consumer insights platform that enables Gen Z and Alpha (aka “Generation Next”) to earn for direct and private brand insights, announced the close of a $3 million growth round, valuing the company at $22 million. The round adds participation from Marquee Ventures, Listen Ventures, and Thayer Investment Partners. The new funding further strengthens [cafeteria]’s strategic position as brands take notice of its innovative approach to delivering consumer sentiment, pre- trends, and brand insights in real time.

With the new capital, [cafeteria] is set to expand its unique SLM AI capabilities, scale data infrastructure to transform unstructured text and voice into actionable insights, and deepen offerings for enterprise clients who are increasingly looking to reach this influential demographic for zero-party insights.

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Since January, [cafeteria] has more than doubled its userbase and tripled the volume of insights produced. Brands across fashion, beauty, and consumer goods are turning to [cafeteria]’s teen-to-brand operating system and enterprise software for authentic Gen Next intelligence. Brand partners include category leaders across Beauty, Retail and CPG.

Clients, such as TikTok favorite Roller Rabbit, are working with [cafeteria] to identify early trends, drive their social and influencer strategies and shape new product decisions. A pre-launch celebrity beauty brand credits [cafeteria] for saving them $100,000 and 6 months of R&D time to select the proper tooling for their packaging.

[cafeteria] previously raised a multimillion-dollar seed round in July 2024 led by Collaborative Fund and Imaginary Ventures, with additional participation from Bertelsmann and music mogul Guy Oseary. The company was valued at $12M last year. Collectively, [cafeteria] investors have backed companies like BILT, Whoop, Reddit, Glossier, Skims, Calm and Lyft.

Rishi Malhotra, CEO and co-founder of [cafeteria], says: “We are building [cafeteria] with exceptional long term investors, a world class team, and an empowered userbase across the country. We are reimagining the relationship between generation next and brands by delivering them a platform for work and private insights software for clients. Our text and voice data are compounding and we are investing in AI capabilities that are truly in-context of the generation.”

“[cafeteria] has created an entirely new way to understand the behaviors, priorities, and interests of next gen consumers that will define the future of many sectors. By leveraging AI and authentic consumer connection, [cafeteria] is allowing brands across sports, media, and entertainment to see trends before they become trends. Marquee Ventures is excited to help the incredible team scale the next great culture defining platform.” – Erik Hammer, Managing Partner at Marquee Ventures

“At Listen, we believe the best brands are built WITH consumers. The next generation wants a direct relationship, they want recognition and rewards for contributing to the brands they love. [cafeteria] has built the platform for engaging and understanding generation next and we are thrilled to partner with them on this journey.” – Jeff Cantalupo, Founder & Managing Partner at Listen

“We’re thrilled to back Rishi and the [cafeteria] team once again, following our successful partnership in their previous venture, Saavn. [cafeteria] being a real time AI-powered insights platform, is focusing on the underserved next generation of consumers- GenZ and Gen Alpha. Backing such disruptive platforms is core to our investment philosophy at BII and we are excited to see strong tech and growth development in record time in the company.” – Pankaj Makkar, Managing Director at Bertelsmann

“Generational shifts have the power to disrupt entire industries, especially when businesses fail to track and adapt to emerging trends. [cafeteria]’s private approach to data aggregation is a breakthrough in reaching the most elusive and influential up-and-coming generation of consumers—engaging them authentically and turning their participation into rich, actionable, quality insights. This is the future of how brands will gain true access to the next wave of economic drivers and secure their relevance in an ever-evolving market.” – Chelsea Salamone, Vice President at Thayer Investment Partners

How it works:

Driven by texts and voice notes, teens apply to the [cafeteria] app to match with brands they want to talk about, and are invited to a private set of questions (called “Tables”). They earn for their time and gain insights into the quality of their work.

For brands, insights are synthesized and editorialized into client software called “Albums” that are always on and asynchronous.

Right now, teens are talking about everything from how they would spend $100 on clothing, the next shoes they want, the first place they are driving after getting their license, how they use AI in their daily lives, and their morning skincare routines.

Malhotra continues: “Our users are producing deep insights on a daily basis with thousands of brands being talked about organically. This is shaping a brand genome and a private SLM on the platform, with real people driving the model. [cafeteria] is a rare combination of technology, culture and commerce. Our vision is to grow into an operating system between this generation and the brands they love. ”

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[cafeteria]’s interactive Next Gen Spenders Report, released twice per year, delivers surprising data points and insights, such as a trend of using Starbucks as a means of paying back friends (read: Starbucks is the new Venmo for Gen Alpha). And [cafeteria]’s spring report revealed that Levi’s still reigns supreme for denim. The reports are curated from hundreds of thousands of insights.