We are entering a new era in how people find and evaluate information. For the first time in decades, the primary gateway to knowledge is shifting, with the move from traditional web search to AI assistants. A large and rapidly growing number of people now start their journey by asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Claude or Gemini for advice on what to buy, where to go and which brands to trust.
The mechanics behind these answers are fundamentally different from traditional search. AI assistants don’t serve up a list of ranked links; they generate a single, authoritative, probabilistic response based on what they “know” about your brand. The traffic, backlinks and click-throughs that shaped traditional SEO carry less weight. For companies, this is a new competitive arena, and it demands new tools to measure and improve how they appear where buying decisions are now being made.
Profound is building that solution. Its platform lets companies see exactly how they appear across AI assistants, create the right content to improve visibility, and deploy AI marketing agents that give one marketer the power of an entire agency. From monitoring and analytics to creating content and executing campaigns, Profound is building the marketing command center for the AI era.
Launched less than a year ago, James Cadwallader, Dylan Babbs, and the team have moved at remarkable speed. They have launched a broad set of products, gained traction in every major sector, and become the leader of this emerging category with customers including Fortune 10 companies, Ramp, U.S. Bank, Indeed, MongoDB, DocuSign, Chime, Clay and Plaid. Customers have reported transformative results; Ramp, for example, saw a 7x increase in AI brand visibility for their accounts payable product.
We are excited to partner with James, Dylan and their fast-growing team by leading their Series B. As search shifts from blue links to direct AI answers, every company will need Profound to remain competitive. We look forward to supporting them in their mission to build the essential AI marketing platform for the age of superintelligence.