San Francisco-based startup Vectorial has raised $3 million in seed funding to expand its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered human behaviour simulation platform, which helps businesses test consumer-facing products, marketing campaigns and AI agents before launching them in the market.
Founded by Taranveer Singh, Jasmine Kaur and Rahul Garg, Vectorial focuses on combining behavioural science, AI development and market research to simulate how consumers may respond to products and digital experiences. According to a Forbes report, the startup has developed a behaviour model called SAPIENS, which uses consumers’ socio-demographic, psychographic and behavioural data to predict potential responses.
How Vectorial’s SAPIENS Platform Works
Vectorial’s SAPIENS platform enables businesses to test prototype products, marketing campaigns, product journeys and AI agents before exposing them to real users. By simulating potential customer reactions, the platform aims to help companies refine their offerings and identify areas for improvement earlier in the product development cycle.
According to the report, the platform draws on public, enterprise and proprietary datasets to develop its models. This approach is intended to make consumer research faster and more cost-effective than traditional research methods.
Vectorial CEO Taranveer Singh told Forbes that while AI has accelerated product development, collecting consumer feedback remains a relatively slow process. This gap can lead businesses to launch products without sufficient market research.
The startup claims its customers can conduct up to 40 times more research than before, often at a lower overall cost.
SAPIENS Reports 87% Accuracy in Research Benchmarks
The accuracy of simulated consumer behaviour is central to Vectorial’s value proposition. According to the Forbes report, the company claims that SAPIENS achieves approximately 87% accuracy in published research benchmarks, compared with around 51–56% for generic large language models (LLMs).
However, these figures reflect the benchmarks cited by the company and do not independently establish how reliably simulated responses predict real-world consumer behaviour across different markets and product categories.
Who Backed Vectorial’s $3 Million Seed Round?
Vectorial’s $3 million seed funding round includes participation from Smilegate, SenseAI Ventures and UC Berkeley, according to the report. Two Stanford-led funds and product leaders from Meta, Shopify and Mastercard are also participating.
The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its datasets and improve its models as it scales its human behaviour simulation capabilities.
Vectorial Targets Faster and More Efficient Consumer Research
Vectorial is positioning its platform as a tool for businesses seeking to test specific products and consumer experiences before launch. Rather than focusing primarily on market selection or identifying new product opportunities, the startup aims to help companies gather feedback on existing concepts and refine them before committing significant resources to a launch.
By enabling on-demand simulations of target customer groups, Vectorial seeks to reduce the time and cost associated with early-stage consumer research. Its approach could offer businesses an additional way to evaluate product ideas, marketing strategies and AI-powered experiences before testing them with real customers.
By: Sanya Sharma
