Profound raises $180M Series D at $1.8B for AI-search marketing
What's the deal? Profound, a New York-based startup, has raised a $180 million Series D led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins at a $1.8 billion valuation. The round takes the company's total funding above $335 million.
What's the endgame? Profound sells "answer-engine" visibility tools that let brands monitor and shape how AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity recommend them. As buyers increasingly ask chatbots for suggestions, the company is positioning itself as the marketing layer for AI-driven search.
Why now? The raise nearly doubles the $1 billion valuation Profound hit just seven months ago in its $96 million Series C. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins both led the new round.
By the numbers: At $180 million, this is a large Series D by sector standards. It ranks in the 94th percentile among all-time Series D rounds for US enterprise software companies, based on a sample of 850 deals.
The signal: Profound's rapid step-up reflects investor conviction that AI assistants are becoming a primary way people discover brands and products. The bet: as search shifts from links to answers, companies will pay to understand and influence what the machines say about them.
Read more: aiweekly.co
Image credit: Profound
