Lydia Bellahouel, formerly at consulting firm BCG, and Camille Epitalon, who led agentic work at software company CO2AI, founded Verso, backed by startup studio Hexa, in 2025.

The research platform design studies, recruits participants and runs AI-moderated video interviews with consumers. Studies conducted via the platform add to a set of consumer personas, used by teams to compare segments and analyse how opinions change over time.

The funding round was led by Angular Ventures, with 100in, Kima Ventures, Olympe Capital, Sharpstone Capital and business angel investors including BCG Partners.

Verso began with consumer interviews and plans to add quantitative data and social listening. The company said the funding will be used to pay for new data sources and agent access, geographical expansion beyond France – starting with the US – and appointing staff across engineering and go-to-market teams.

Lydia Bellahouel, co-founder and chief executive at Verso, said the company is building a “consumer knowledge layer” with the aim of making it easier for businesses to access “usable consumer insights”.

Florent Quinti, partner at Hexa, said: “As AI makes it easier to build almost anything, understanding what people need becomes even more important. The challenge is knowing what to build and that starts with understanding what people think, feel, and care about. Verso gives builders and AI access to that understanding.”

The funding marks the latest venture capital investment in AI-based research businesses focusing their models on continuous consumer understanding.