The Persona Shortcut

Today’s featured startup is redefining user research by replacing surveys with data-driven AI personas.

May 17, 2025

Lakmoos believes it's time for companies to run user research instantly — and without involving real users.

Instead of conducting surveys with hundreds of people, teams can now interact with AI personas — data-driven representatives of their target segments. These personas live on the Lakmoos platform, come with names and faces, and can be customized to reflect any audience.

The startup builds these personas on two levels:

Generalized segments based on surveys and behavioral data Lakmoos collects independently.
Client-specific personalization based on a company’s internal user research or insights.

Users can select their desired audience using up to 100 segmentation filters and get a fully functional AI persona — ready to answer questions like a statistically accurate human would.

What’s the Gist?

Just last week, Rally raised $8.85 million for a startup that helps companies run faster, cheaper user research through an AI-powered CRM. The fact that investors are backing this space shows just how important user insights have become — and how urgently teams want to get them.

Lakmoos isn’t trying to automate traditional research. It’s skipping straight to the next phase: research without humans. By leveraging AI, the company enables research teams to ask anything — from simple product questions to deep psychological ones — and receive statistically grounded answers.

And it works because Lakmoos taps into a wide array of anonymized data sources. For example, it knows how much money a persona “has” in their bank account, based on real banking data across socio-demographic groups. So you can ask it questions like “How much do you have in savings?” and get a meaningful, data-backed response.

Even sensitive questions like “Do you believe in God?” or “How afraid are you of taking risks?” get answered without hesitation — because you’re not talking to a real person, but to a statistically sound model.

In practice, this means companies can validate product and marketing hypotheses at lightning speed — without the time and cost of recruiting focus groups or survey panels.

And that cost matters. Lakmoos surveyed corporate research teams and found that even major brands would need 12× larger budgets to run the kind of studies they actually want before launching new products.

The platform also goes beyond yes/no answers. It maps emotional context behind responses. For example, when someone says they’re not planning to get a mortgage, Lakmoos can help determine why: is it because they’re content with their current home — or because they’ve lost hope of ever affording one?

These nuances matter — and Lakmoos helps teams catch them.

According to research firm Ipsos, the AI personas’ responses statistically match those of real users within the same segment.

While traditional research projects take up to six months to set up — from defining goals to hiring agencies — Lakmoos delivers personas within a month, and keeps refining them over time.

Clients pay a monthly subscription to access the platform. Marketing and research agencies can also use Lakmoos under their own branding as a white-label solution.

Lakmoos was founded in the Czech Republic in spring 2024 and has just raised its first €300,000.

Key Takeaways

Lakmoos taps into a growing trend: AI personas with personality.

We’re seeing an emerging ecosystem of tools that turn artificial intelligence into believable, interactive characters — not just data processors.

Earlier this year, the startup Hyperbound (a Y Combinator alum) launched a tool for training B2B sales teams on interacting with different buyer types — like a “gruff head of sales” or a “polite marketing exec.” Lakmoos is taking the same idea and applying it to B2C user research.

And they’re not alone. Dopple created a marketplace of AI personalities based on real or fictional individuals — from celebrities to historical figures — that users can talk to for advice or empathy. Their core value? Every AI is a personality, not just a chatbot.

The movement is real. From Personal AI (which raised $13.7M to build digital clones for messaging) to Chirper (a Twitter-like network for AI characters), to AI-powered employees built by Artisan AI or 11x — startups are betting on individuality.

Whether it’s sales reps, teaching assistants, or virtual influencers, the logic is the same: if your AI is going to talk to people, it better have a personality.

So the big question is:
Where else can we apply AI personas with human traits?
What kind of data helps build these personalities?
And how do we make sure they reflect not just what people do — but how they feel?

Company info:

Lakmoos

Website: lakmoos.com
Last round: €300K, 05.03.2024
Total investments: €300K, across 1 round