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Exa

AI · San Francisco, United States · Founded 2021

Formerly known as Metaphor Systems. | AI-native search engine for applications and workflows. MoreLess

Exa.ai is an innovative startup that specializes in developing an AI-driven search engine designed to deliver precise, real-time data. The company serves a diverse range of clients, including businesses and developers who require high-quality data for training AI models and enhancing their applications. Operating in the artificial intelligence and data analytics market, Exa.ai's core product is an API that allows users to retrieve the best data from the web with just a few lines of code. The business model revolves around a subscription-based service, offering 1000 free searches per month for new users, and additional searches available through paid plans. Exa.ai generates revenue by providing scalable data solutions that help clients avoid the pitfalls of traditional search engines, which often rely heavily on keyword matching and can deliver suboptimal results. The company recently raised $17 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nvidia, and Y Combinator, which will be used to scale their search product and solidify their position as the data layer for AI applications.

Keywords: AI-driven, search engine, real-time data, API, data analytics, training models, subscription service, scalable solutions, Series A funding, Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Valuation $1–2.5B
Revenue $10–50M
Headcount 100–500
Total funding $100–500M
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Company overview

Exa company information

The essential company record, classifications and operating signals in one place.

Status
Operational
Founded
2021
Headquarters
San Francisco, United States
Employees
164
Open positions
16
Dealroom signal
95.6
client focusb2btechnologyArtificial Intelligenceclient focusb2ctechnologyDeep TechtechnologyMachine LearningtechnologyDeep LearningtechnologyNatural Language Processingbusiness modelSaaSsectorSearch Engine OptimizationsectorCore AIsectorProductivity ToolssectorVerified Unicorns and $1B ExitssectorNovel AIsectorGenerative AI

Valuation & funding

Exa funding history

Company financing events and reported valuations.

Deal typeDateAmountValuationInvestorsSource
SERIES COther financing May 2026 $250M $2.2B Andreessen Horowitz
SERIES BOther financing Sep 2025 $85M $700M Nvidia · Benchmark · Lightspeed Venture Partners · Y Combinator
SERIES AOther financing Jul 2024 $18M $70M Y Combinator · Nvidia · Lightspeed Venture Partners
SEEDOther financing Jan 2024 $4.4M $18M Y Combinator · Nvidia · Lightspeed Venture Partners
SEEDOther financing Apr 2023 $0 Pioneer Fund
SEEDOther financing Jan 2022 Undisclosed
SEEDOther financing Sep 2021 Y Combinator
Showing 7 recorded eventsUnlock the complete deal history →

Financials

Revenue and workforce over time

Available revenue and workforce history. Fields without reported data are omitted.

YearRevenueGrowthEmployees
2026 $10M 0% 164
2025 $10M +400% 107
2024 $2M 38
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Growth signals

Exa website traffic

Latest recorded traffic for Exa is 850K monthly website visits, up 2.4% over the last three months. Exa's team grew 53.3% over the past year.

Latest monthly visits850K 3-month web change+2.4% 1-year team growth+53.3%
Monthly website visits30 observations · Feb 2024–Jul 2026
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Comparisons

Exa compared with similar companies

Dealroom’s weighted taxonomy model identifies the closest operating peers. Company identity and context stay open; selected comparison metrics preview what is available in the platform.

Showing 8 of the closest matchesCompare every metric →
Team profiled 13 named & role-tagged
Founders Hidden — book a demo/100 quality score
Key operators 2 quality Hidden — book a demo/100
Potential founders Hidden — book a demo likely future founders
Startup mafia Hidden — book a demo alumni-founded startups
Talent movements Hidden — book a demo in · Hidden — book a demo out past 12 months

Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.

Investors

6 investors on Exa's cap table

Sourced from Dealroom's funding and investor records. Investor profile links are shown where available.

Seed 4 investors entered at this stage
Series A 1 investor entered at this stage
Series B+ 1 investor entered at this stage

Global footprint

Where Exa has talent and traffic

Workforce by country
10 countries with
team presence
🇺🇸 United States78.7%
🇵🇹 Portugal4%
🇨🇭 Switzerland4%
🇨🇦 Canada2.7%
🇮🇳 India2.7%
Top 5 of 10 shown

In the news

Latest news about Exa

Recent press, funding announcements, and product moves mentioning Exa — open to read from the original sources.

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Market sentiment

What the market is saying about Exa

An AI-synthesized read of the highest-engagement posts about Exa on X over the past 7 days. We rank by likes & retweets, ignore corporate channels, and surface the themes that broke out from real people.

Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…

Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour

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