Peec AI Raises $21M to Help Brands Adapt to ChatGPT Shift

The Shift in Product Discovery and the Rise of Peec AI

As consumer behavior evolves, with an increasing number of queries directed towards platforms like ChatGPT rather than traditional search engines such as Google, the landscape of product discovery is undergoing a significant transformation.

This shift has fueled the rapid growth of Peec AI, a European startup positioned to provide brands with both visibility and control within this emerging search channel.

Recent Funding and Growth

Only four months following its initial seed funding round, spearheaded by 20VC, Peec AI has successfully secured $21 million in Series A funding. This round was led by the prominent European venture capital firm, Singular.

CEO Marius Meiners has confirmed that the company’s valuation has tripled, now exceeding $100 million, though the precise figure remains undisclosed.

The startup has demonstrated impressive financial performance, achieving an annual recurring revenue of over $4 million within just ten months of its launch. This success has attracted a substantial customer base of 1,300 companies and agencies to the platform.

Peec AI's Core Functionality: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)

Peec AI empowers its users to monitor their brand’s presence within AI-driven searches. Beyond simply tracking visibility and search rankings, the platform also analyzes sentiment and identifies the sources influencing these AI-generated responses.

This detailed insight facilitates Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) – a strategy for optimizing a brand’s presence in AI search results, mirroring the principles of SEO for conventional search engines.

Currently, Peec AI is onboarding approximately 300 new customers each month, and the recent funding will be instrumental in accelerating this growth and supporting the company’s expansion initiatives.

Expansion Plans and Team Growth

With the support of additional investors including Antler, Combination VC, identity.vc, and S20, Peec AI intends to expand its team by approximately 40 individuals over the next six months.

The majority of these new roles will be based in Berlin, where Meiners connected with his co-founders – Tobias Siwonia (CTO) and Daniel Drabo (CRO) – through Antler’s Winter 2024 cohort.

Competitive Landscape and Market Positioning

Rapid expansion and heightened visibility are considered crucial for success in this nascent market, which is anticipated to become increasingly competitive.

Existing competitors include New York-based Profound and Austrian startup OtterlyAI.

To attract top talent, the 20-person startup is currently utilizing large-scale outdoor advertising throughout Berlin. Furthermore, Peec AI plans to establish a sales-focused office in New York City during the second quarter of the following year, as stated by Meiners to TechCrunch.

Differentiation and Future Development

As more GEO tools emerge and existing SEO dashboards integrate AI tracking features, Peec AI aims to distinguish itself by offering a comprehensive yet user-friendly dashboard, despite the dynamic nature of AI searches.

The platform’s focus differs from traditional SEO tools, centering on prompts – the specific queries for which brands aim to achieve prominent search results.

Pricing Structure

Customers can monitor up to 25 prompts for a monthly fee of €75 ($87), with the option to increase this to 100 prompts for €169 ($196). Both plans include free trials, while the enterprise offering begins at €424 ($493) per month.

The dashboard also provides actionable recommendations to enhance visibility and improve sentiment.

For example, it might suggest that a company targeting the query “the best CRMs for fast-growing companies” should actively participate in discussions on the r/CRM subreddit on Reddit.

The Importance of Source Insights

This recommendation highlights the significance of “source insights,” a core component of Peec AI, which can inform and guide the content strategy of its users.

The startup’s observations indicate that mentions in prominent media outlets do not necessarily yield greater visibility than articles published by lesser-known sources, particularly when the latter’s headlines closely align with the original search query – such as “the best healthcare investors in Berlin.”

Current Users and Broader Applications

Current Peec AI users include prominent organizations such as Axel Springer, Chanel, n8n, ElevenLabs, and TUI, reflecting the growing adoption of AI searches across both B2C and B2B sectors.

However, recognizing that ChatGPT and similar platforms are utilized for a wide range of tasks, Peec AI is focused on filtering out irrelevant data to pinpoint queries specifically related to brands, purchases, products, and services.

Proprietary Data Pipeline and the AI Value Chain

To achieve this level of precision, Peec AI has acquired raw datasets of user requests, but this is only the initial step.

“We have to filter all these out to really get the questions that people ask around brands or purchases and products and services,” Meiners explained.

The company’s proprietary data pipeline is considered a key differentiator and a potential driver of its success. This underscores the broader trend of European startups capitalizing on opportunities within the AI value chain, focusing on application layers and underlying data, in addition to model development.