Profound

AI Marketing · AEO/GEO · Enterprise SaaS

Funding

Profound raises $180M Series D at $1.8B valuation, doubling in 7 months

Semrush and Ahrefs are bundling similar AI-visibility tools into existing suites, testing whether this new category can survive as a standalone business.

• Profound raised a $180 million Series D co-led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins at a $1.8 billion valuation, less than seven months after its $96 million Series C.
• Founded in 2024 by James Cadwallader and Dylan Babbs, Profound builds software that tracks and improves how brands appear in AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.
• The platform now serves more than 1,000 enterprise brands, including Comcast, Estée Lauder and Walmart, and reaches roughly a third of the Fortune 100.
• Profound says revenue tripled over the past six months, and the company has raised more than $335 million total since its 2024 founding.
• Incumbents are moving fast: Semrush added an AI Visibility Toolkit and Ahrefs shipped a Brand Radar product, both bolted onto existing SEO suites rather than built standalone.
• Doubling in valuation within seven months while established SEO players add competing features tests whether answer-engine optimization can remain a defensible standalone category rather than a feature incumbents give away for free.