A Korean startup Dbdlab, the operator of Userspoon—a Research Operations SaaS platform designed to streamline user experience (UX) research—has secured pre-Series A funding from Grand Ventures and SmartStudy Ventures.

Previously, Dbdlab attracted seed investment from entities such as The Invention Lab, Neowiz Partners, and Jin-gyu Jang, Chairman of Companoid Labs.

Userspoon automates the entire UX research process—from research design and question creation to response collection and result analysis—allowing users to easily conduct various research methodologies without needing specialized expertise. It also offers “Wouldyou Test,” a mobile app dedicated to panel recruitment. By leveraging AI and advanced data analytics, the platform ensures consistent and sincere responses, enhancing the reliability of research outcomes. Dbdlab’s systematic and virtuous-cycle research framework enables precise and cost-effective customer experience analysis, empowering businesses to focus primarily on their core operations.

Jisoo Kang, founder and CEO of Dbdlab, emphasized, “We define our product not merely as a ‘research tool’ but as a ‘research culture’. Although the UX and UX research markets have rapidly expanded since our inception, we still consider it to be in its early stages. Our aim is to lead Research Operations across Asia, helping customers perceive research as an ongoing, data-driven system rather than isolated events.”

Han Jung-gyu, CEO and Managing Partner at Grand Ventures, commented on the decision to invest: “Traditional UX research often depends on external specialists, which limits immediate actionability and repeatability. Dbdlab has automated these processes, offering value that legacy research firms could not. It has grown into a service proactively sought out by large corporations, financial institutions, and unicorn startups. Given the unprecedented speed at which markets and consumer experiences are evolving due to advancements in AI, accurate analysis of market and customer experience data has become crucial for business survival. We see tremendous potential in Dbdlab’s technological competitiveness, its product’s scalability in customer experience analytics, and prospects for global expansion within the rapidly growing market intelligence sector.”