Profound is an early-stage AI search optimization platform built to help brands win visibility in a new era of search—one driven by generative AI. Founded in 2024 by James Cadwallader and Dylan Babbs, Profound is based in New York and backed by $3.5 million in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Saga Ventures, and South Park Commons.
The platform gives brands real-time tools to understand how they show up across large language models and AI-powered search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI Overviews. Its suite includes Answer Engine Insights to track presence in AI results, Conversation Explorer to analyze how people talk about the brand inside AI chat interfaces, and Agent Analytics to understand which AI tools drive the most exposure.
Used by companies like Ramp, MongoDB, and Indeed, Profound is already carving out a critical role in helping marketers and comms teams optimize content strategies for the AI-first internet.
