Profound
Software for measuring and improving brand visibility in AI search.
Available information varies by company and source.
Profile record updated:
Company facts
- Official name
- Cooper Square Technologies, Inc.
- Entity type
- COMPANY
- Founded
- 2024
- Headquarters
- 1 Union Sq W, New York, NY 10003, US
- Company size
- 50–200
- Market role
- MarTech Vendor
- Official website
- tryprofound.com
What Profound does
Profound operates a B2B SaaS model built around answer engine optimisation and AI search analytics. It creates value by collecting and structuring prompt-level and visibility data from AI answer engines, turning that into dashboards, benchmarking, recommendations, and workflow tools that help brands improve discoverability. The platform then extends into execution via agent-based content generation and optimisation, increasing product breadth and account expansion potential. Ancillary value is created through proprietary prompt datasets, benchmark indices, and custom analytical reports for customers needing strategic diagnostics.
Category differentiation
This is a B2B software company focused on AI search visibility and answer engine optimisation, not a foundational LLM provider or a traditional media buying platform. It differs from standard SEO suites by concentrating on AI-generated answer surfaces rather than only classic search rankings.
Strategic context
AI-supported assessment from the existing company research; distinguish interpretation from sourced facts.
Profound is a US-based private software company that sells a B2B platform for monitoring and improving how brands appear in AI-powered search and answer engines. Its core offering combines visibility tracking, prompt analytics, citation and sentiment monitoring, competitive benchmarking, and workflow tools for content optimisation across platforms such as ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. The business is aimed primarily at enterprise marketing, SEO, content, e-commerce, PR, and agency teams that need to measure brand presence in AI-driven discovery environments. The company generates revenue mainly from subscription software, with additional usage-based charges for agentic content workflows and some paid research or advisory-style outputs. Beyond the core platform, it offers prompt intelligence datasets, a visibility benchmarking index, automated content agents, team workflow products, and custom AEO reports. This creates a hybrid model spanning SaaS, data products, and managed analytical services.
Company news briefing
Briefing updated:
Profound has closed a $180 million Series D funding round at a $1.8 billion valuation, co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, to expand its generative engine optimisation and AI marketing platform. Building on its enterprise adoption by brands like Comcast, Walmart, and Estée Lauder, the company has advanced its capabilities with the introduction of the YouTube Citation Breakdown feature. These developments underscore Profound's scaling role as a measurement platform for brands navigating AI search and agentic commerce.
Business model & monetisation
Profound monetises through recurring SaaS subscriptions with tiered packaging, supplemented by usage-based pricing for automation features. Pricing scales by tracked prompts, AI engines monitored, and content generation volume, with enterprise contracts adding premium controls such as SSO, broader tracking, and support. It also monetises proprietary data assets and benchmarking outputs, plus bespoke analytical report engagements, resulting in a mix of subscription revenue, metered usage revenue, and service-style fees.
- Core platform subscriptions
- Tiered SaaS pricing for AI visibility analytics and monitoring
- Agent automation usage
- Credit-based metered consumption for content workflows
- Enterprise feature uplifts
- Custom contract pricing for SSO, expanded limits, and support
- Benchmarking and data products
- Paid access to prompt intelligence and visibility index outputs
- Custom AEO reports
- Project or retainer-based analytical services
Products & capabilities
No products with linked sources are available in this view.
Products & market categories
Recent recorded signals
Dates refer to the source publication. Older entries are historical context, not evidence of a new event.
Estée Lauder Adopts GEO for AI Visibility
AI & Marketing · Recorded impact score: 3/5
Estée Lauder has forged a global partnership with AI marketing platform Profound to enhance its brands' visibility in generative AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini. The beauty conglomerate will leverage Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to analyze and improve how its products appear in AI-driven search and answer platforms. This initiative, integrated into its One Operating Ecosystem, marks a significant step in treating AI visibility as a core marketing discipline, with content optimization across product pages, blogs, and YouTube channels. The partnership highlights the growing importance of AI assistants as new discovery channels for consumers.
- Estée Lauder partners with Profound, an AI marketing platform, for global GEO strategy.
- Focus is on analyzing and optimizing brand presence in AI systems like ChatGPT and Gemini.
Profound raises $180M in Series D to build your AI Marketer
Recorded impact score: 4.5/5
Profound has raised $180M to build the AI platform for marketing. CEO James Cadwallader writes why AI is creating more work for marketers, and how AI Marketer brings company context and agents together to help teams do it.
AI search marketing startup Profound raises $180M Series D at $1.8B valuation
Funding · Recorded impact score: 4/5
Profound, a marketing software startup that helps brands appear in AI search results, announced a $180 million Series D funding round at a $1.8 billion valuation, just seven months after its $96 million Series C. The round was co-led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and South Park Commons. The company, which launched two years ago as an analytics platform, now focuses on generative engine optimization (GEO) and answer engine optimization (AEO), helping businesses understand how AI systems influence consumer brand discovery. Profound reports revenue growth of 3x in the past six months and serves over 1,000 enterprise customers, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies, and Walmart. The funding will likely support expansion and product development in the rapidly growing AI search optimization space.
- Profound raised $180 million in Series D funding.
- The valuation is $1.8 billion, making Profound a unicorn.
250 New Unicorns: AI Drives Billion-Dollar Wave in Marketing
Funding · Recorded impact score: 3/5
According to Crunchbase, 250 companies reached a $1 billion valuation by mid-August 2026, surpassing the 193 unicorns created in all of 2025. AI is the primary driver, attracting capital across various sectors, including marketing technology. Notable new unicorns include Profound, which measures brand visibility in AI responses, Higgsfield, a generative AI content production platform, and Simile, which develops synthetic users for market research. These companies illustrate investor confidence in AI-powered marketing solutions. The article notes that while German unicorns like Neura Robotics, Proxima Fusion, Osapiens, and Moss emerged in 2026, none are marketing-focused. Overall, venture capital is increasingly concentrating on AI applications within sales, marketing, and CRM, though the total volume remains below the 2021-2022 boom.
- Crunchbase reported 250 new unicorns by mid-August 2026, compared to 193 in all of 2025.
- Profound raised $96 million in February, reaching a valuation of $1 billion.
Bazaarvoice Launches AI Visibility Package for UGC Discovery
AI Visibility · Recorded impact score: 3/5
Bazaarvoice, a platform for user-generated content (UGC), announced the launch of its AI Visibility package. The offering helps brands and retailers make their customer reviews, photos, and ratings structured and readable by AI crawlers, enabling better discovery in AI-powered search and shopping. Early clients saw a median 40% increase in AI-driven referral traffic, with 100% of UGC delivered in AI-readable formats. The package includes expert implementation and partnerships with Bluefish, Evertune, and Profound for independent measurement of brand citations in AI answers. Bazaarvoice CMO Doug Straton highlighted that JavaScript widgets remain a blind spot for AI crawlers, and this solution aims to fix that.
- Bazaarvoice launched an AI Visibility package to make UGC discoverable by AI platforms.
- Clients using the package report a median 40% increase in AI-driven referral traffic.
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Questions about Profound
What is Profound?
Profound is a B2B software platform that helps brands monitor and improve how they appear in AI-powered search and answer engines.
Who uses Profound?
Its users are mainly enterprise marketing, SEO, content, PR, e-commerce, and agency teams managing brand visibility in AI-driven discovery channels.
How does Profound make money?
It makes money through SaaS subscriptions, usage-based charges for automated agents, enterprise contract upsells, and paid data or report offerings.
Sources & coverage
This profile uses public, official and technically observable information. Missing information does not prove that a product or relationship does not exist. The list below does not imply that every profile statement has been verified.
18 publicly documented primary sources and citations linked across the market graph.
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