# Profound raises $180M Series D for AI-search marketing

> The round was co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins and arrives about seven months after Profound's $96 million Series C. TechCrunch reports the company is valued at $1.8 billion.

- Publication: Go Big News
- By Nifal Adam, Go Big News Staff (Staff News)
- Category: Marketing
- Published: 2026-09-23T08:47:35.816+00:00
- Canonical: https://www.gobignews.com/marketing/profound-raises-180m-series-d-for-ai-search-marketing

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[Profound](https://tryprofound.com) has raised a $180 million Series D co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins. The company announced the round in a post on X.

TechCrunch reports that the round values Profound at $1.8 billion. TechCrunch describes Profound as part of a wave of startups in GEO/AEO, or generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization, that help brands surface products in the AI systems customers increasingly use for search instead of traditional search engines.

In its June 2025 Series A announcement, Profound described its work as "Answer Engine Optimization," helping marketers understand and control how they show up in AI responses as consumers shift from blue-link search to AI conversations like ChatGPT. TechCrunch reports that the company began as an analytics platform before expanding into AI-search marketing strategy.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Saga Ventures, Evantic and South Park Commons also participated, according to [Profound's Series D announcement](https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/series-d).

Profound says its platform is used by more than 2,500 brands, including one-third of Fortune 100 companies. The company names Estée Lauder, Walmart, Zoom, Royal Bank of Canada, Stripe, Ramp, Cursor and Figma as customers. Separately, TechCrunch reports that Profound serves more than 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies and Walmart, and that its revenue rose threefold in the six months before the announcement.

The Series D follows a $96 million Series C in February 2026, which valued Profound at $1 billion. That round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Profound was founded by CEO James Cadwallader and CTO Dylan Babbs, and launched in August 2024 with a $3.5 million seed round. The company is headquartered in New York City.

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## Companies in this story

- Tryprofound: https://www.gobignews.com/company/tryprofound

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## X profiles in this story

- @dbabbs: https://www.gobignews.com/profile/dbabbs
- @kleinerperkins: https://www.gobignews.com/profile/kleinerperkins
- @sequoia: https://www.gobignews.com/profile/sequoia
- @profound: https://www.gobignews.com/profile/profound