Key facts
- Profound raised $180 million in a Series D funding round.
- The startup achieved a $1.8 billion valuation.
- Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the Series D round.
- Profound's revenue has increased 3x in the past six months.
- The company has over 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart.
Profound, a startup that develops marketing software to help brands appear in AI search results, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $180 million in a Series D funding round, achieving a valuation of $1.8 billion. This funding comes less than seven months after the company raised $96 million in its Series C round. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the Series D round, with participation from existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons. Launched two years ago, Profound initially began as an analytics platform and has since expanded to assist companies in researching and creating marketing strategies. The company focuses on helping businesses understand how AI influences consumer discovery of their brands. Profound operates in the Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) space, aiming to help companies surface their products within the AI systems increasingly used by consumers for search. The company reported a threefold increase in revenue over the past six months and serves more than 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart.