AEO startup Profound hits unicorn valuation, raises $180M Series D 7 months after last round
AEO startup Profound raised a $180M Series D at a $1.8B valuation led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins.
Profound, which builds marketing software to help brands appear in AI search results, raised a $180 million Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation, seven months after its $96 million Series C. Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the round, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons participating. The company reports 3x revenue growth in six months and over 1,000 enterprise customers including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart. It operates in the generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO) space.
- Series D totals $180M at a $1.8B unicorn valuation
- Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led; Lightspeed, Khosla also participated
- Revenue up 3x in six months; over 1,000 enterprise customers
- Part of the emerging GEO/AEO market for AI search visibility
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In Brief
Posted:
8:22 AM PDT · September 15, 2026
Profound, which builds marketing software to help brands appear in AI search results, on Tuesday said it has raised a $180 million Series D at a $1.8 billion valuation, less than seven months after it raised a $96 million Series C.
Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins led the round, and existing investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and South Park Commons, also participated.
Launched two years ago, Profound started as an analytics platform, and has since expanded to help companies research and create marketing strategies. The startup helps businesses understand how AI helps consumers discover their brands.
It’s part of a wave of startups in the GEO/AEO space (generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization, respectively), where companies try to find ways to surface their products in the AI systems customers are increasingly using for search.
The company says its revenue has increased by 3x in the past six months, and it now has more than 1,000 enterprise customers, which include Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart.
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