Profound, a US-based startup that makes marketing software to help brands appear in AI search results, said on September 15 it raised US$180 million in a series D, valuing the company at US$1.8 billion.

Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the round. Existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons, also participated.

The raise comes less than seven months after Profound’s US$96 million series C, as startups helping brands show up in AI search summaries become a distinct category.

Launched two years ago, Profound said it now has more than 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, Walmart, and The Estée Lauder Companies.

The market is attracting attention as studies track traffic across AI search engines, measure the impact on web traffic for more than 50 advertisers, and report growing generative AI referral traffic for businesses.

🔗 Source: TechCrunch

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