Profound, which develops marketing software that helps brands appear in AI search results, announced Tuesday that it has raised $180 million in Series D at a valuation of $1.8 billion, less than seven months after raising $96 million in Series C.
Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the round, with participation from existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons.
Founded two years ago, Profound started as an analytics platform but has since expanded to help companies research and create marketing strategies. The startup helps businesses understand how AI can help consumers discover brands.
This is part of a wave of startups in the GEO/AEO space (generation engine optimization and response engine optimization, respectively), where companies are finding ways to make their products appear in the AI systems that customers use to search.
The company says its revenue has tripled in the past six months and it now has more than 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies and Walmart.
