Profound, a New York-based leader in artificial intelligence search optimization, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from NVIDIA’s and Khosla Ventures’ venture arms. This funding will accelerate development of Profound’s advanced product offerings and expand its go-to-market strategies, positioning the company for growth amid the rapidly evolving AI search landscape. Founded to empower brands in the emerging era of AI-powered search and answer engines, Profound has built a sophisticated platform that helps companies control their visibility within AI-driven search results. As AI increasingly shapes online information delivery through chat-based search engines and virtual assistants, managing brand presence in these channels has become a strategic priority for organizations aiming to influence customers and drive engagement. Profound specializes in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), distinct from traditional SEO by focusing on optimizing content and brand presence specifically for AI answer and chat engines. This new approach demands innovative content creation, monitoring, and analytics techniques, areas where Profound offers significant technological advances. A key feature of Profound’s platform is AI visibility monitoring, allowing companies to track the frequency and context of their brand appearances within AI search results—critical for assessing brand influence in the AI era. Additionally, it robustly tracks user interactions from AI-originated search queries to company websites, providing marketers with insights into traffic patterns and consumer behavior influenced by AI-driven searches. Profound also aids brands in crafting content optimized for AI answer engines, which distill large data sets into concise responses.

Through its solutions, businesses can tailor and refine messaging to enhance visibility and engagement in these AI-powered formats. The $20 million investment led by Kleiner Perkins, a firm renowned for supporting transformative tech companies, reflects strong confidence in Profound’s technology and business model. NVIDIA’s involvement highlights strategic synergy, given its leadership in AI hardware and software, further validating Profound’s potential impact on digital search and brand visibility. As AI’s role in search and information retrieval expands rapidly, brands face urgent pressure to adapt to new consumer engagement methods. Profound addresses this by equipping companies with tools for navigating AI-driven search complexities—enabling detailed monitoring, interaction tracking, and optimized content creation that help brands maintain control and maximize presence in this next generation of search technology. In summary, Profound’s recent Series A funding and planned acceleration of product and market initiatives mark a significant milestone both for the company and the broader AI search optimization field. As AI reshapes how people find information online, solutions like Profound’s will be increasingly essential for brands striving to stay relevant and competitive in the digital age.