Profound, a New York City-based company, has secured $35 million in Series B funding, bringing its total capital raised to $58.5 million, as it helps brands maintain visibility in AI-generated search responses.
The investment was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from existing venture capital firms including Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, Saga VC, and South Park Commons. Profound, launched less than a year ago, aims to help brands maintain control over their presence in AI-generated search responses, a space it claims to have pioneered.
This emerging sector addresses the shift in how users access information, as AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity increasingly divert search queries away from traditional search engines like Google. According to the Wall Street Journal, AI-powered chatbots now account for over 5% of U.S. desktop search traffic, a significant increase from just 1.3% in early 2024.
Profound has quickly gained traction, securing Fortune 10 clients and hundreds of others, including Ramp, U.S. Bank, Indeed, MongoDB, Docusign, and Chime. The company reports that 2,000 marketers from more than 500 organizations currently utilize its platform daily to navigate this evolving digital landscape.
Sequoia partner Anas Biad expressed confidence in Profound’s co-founders, James Cadwallader, a serial marketing entrepreneur, and Dylan Babbs, a former Uber software engineer. Sequoia views the rise of AI search as a “once-in-a-generation platform shift” for marketers and believes Profound is strategically positioned to lead this transformation.
James Cadwallader characterized the current shift as a “Game of Thrones power shift” from traditional search engine optimization (SEO) tactics to a new era of AI search. He stated, “once you’ve used AI to search, you quickly understand why our children won’t be using [Google’s] blue links.”
Cadwallader emphasized that this change extends beyond mere search, fundamentally altering the internet itself and becoming a “boardroom-level problem” for every marketer. He posited that if AI chatbots become the primary search method, brands risk losing direct visibility and control over their online appearance to consumers.
Addressing this challenge involves more than just monitoring AI output; it necessitates creating and optimizing content specifically for AI bots. “This is the first time ever you are creating content for bots,” Cadwallader explained. “Brands are using Profound to create what humans would probably find boring—highly structured content that’s designed for bots to consume, like a game of telephone.”
Profound’s platform tracks how major AI models surface brand mentions and leverages advanced reasoning models to analyze insights and generate actionable recommendations. Cadwallader stressed that Profound’s approach maintains “a human in the loop,” aiming to enhance marketers’ efficiency rather than replace them.
The scope of the challenge has broadened beyond traditional marketing functions, encompassing “a PR challenge, a content challenge, even a customer support challenge,” as AI models develop “opinions” that reflect internet sentiment back to users. Cadwallader envisions a future where transactions occur directly within AI assistants, eliminating the need for users to navigate away with a single click.
