Profound Raises $180M Series D at $1.8B Valuation for AI Search Marketing
Quick Look
Marketing software startup Profound raised a $180 million Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation, led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, to expand its AI search optimization platform.
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Why It Matters
Profound builds marketing software to help brands appear in AI search results.
Profound, which builds marketing software to help brands appear in AI search results, on Tuesday said it has raised a $180 million Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation, less than seven months after it raised a $96 million Series C.
Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the round, and existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and South Park Commons, also participated.
Launched two years ago, Profound started as an analytics platform, and has since expanded to help companies research and create marketing strategies. The startup helps businesses understand how AI helps consumers discover their brands.
It’s part of a wave of startups in the GEO/AEO space (generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization, respectively), where companies try to find ways to surface their products in the AI systems customers are increasingly using for search.
The company says its revenue has increased by 3x in the past six months, and it now has more than 1,000 enterprise customers, which include Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart.
Open Questions
- How will Profound utilize the new capital?
