The Prompting Company Raises $6.5M for AI App Integration

The Shift in Product Discovery: AI Over Google

A growing number of individuals are now utilizing artificial intelligence, rather than conventional search engines like Google, to locate desired products. Recent market analysis indicates that American consumers are increasingly likely to leverage large language models this holiday season for identifying gifts, discounts, and promotional offers.

Projected Growth in AI-Driven Traffic

According to the report, retailers may experience as much as a 520% surge in traffic originating from chatbots and AI prompts by 2025, compared to figures from 2024. This necessitates that brands prioritize strategies for appearing in AI-generated recommendations, and do so promptly.

Introducing The Prompting Company and GEO

The potential for this increase in AI-facilitated traffic is the foundational principle behind The Prompting Company, a startup supported by Y Combinator. They assist products in gaining recognition within AI applications through a technique called GEO – Generative Engine Optimization. This strategy is tailored for a future where AI agents autonomously browse the internet on behalf of users.

Funding and Current Clients

Established just four months ago by Kevin Chandra, Michelle Marcelline, and Albert Purnama, the company has successfully secured $6.5 million in seed funding. Their current clientele includes prominent companies such as Rippling, Rho, Motion, Vapi, Fondo, Kernel, and Traceloop.

The Rise of AI Bots in Website Traffic

“Over the last year, the majority of website growth has been attributable to AI bots, not human visitors,” explained Chandra, co-founder and CEO, in a recent interview with TechCrunch. “We are already observing developers requesting product recommendations from AI tools within their workflows, and anticipate a diminishing role for individuals in certain stages of the purchasing process.”

Marketing to AI Agents

As AI emerges as the primary point of contact for product discovery, and agents eventually execute transactions on a user’s behalf, The Prompting Company posits that brands must adapt their marketing efforts to encompass both agents and humans.

The Need for AI-Facing Websites

Chandra emphasizes that this requires brands to develop an AI-facing website – a specialized version of their site designed for agents, devoid of navigational elements, pop-up windows, or superfluous marketing content. “Currently, most businesses focus their website design solely on human users,” Chandra stated to TechCrunch. “However, the fastest-growing segment of internet users today is AI agents, and they require a distinctly different interface.”

How The Prompting Company’s Platform Operates

The platform functions by initially identifying and analyzing the queries posed by AI agents. This is achieved by probing models to uncover specific questions indicative of purchase intent. Subsequently, it generates structured content that directly addresses these questions and automatically directs AI agents to “AI-optimized pages.”

Publishing AI-Friendly Pages

Backed by Y Combinator, the startup empowers companies to publish a substantial number of AI-compatible pages, enabling Large Language Models (LLMs) to cite their responses even when traditional SEO rankings are absent. (Y Combinator has also invested in related startups like Relixir, Writesonic, and Bear.)

GEO vs. SEO

While SEO remains relevant, Chandra contends that GEO is rapidly gaining prominence for brands. In GEO, product results are presented organically based on their relevance to the ongoing conversation, rather than relying on paid keywords or search engine rankings.

A Changing Landscape for Product Purchases

This evolution may also reshape the way products are purchased. The emergence of new protocols, including Google’s Agent2Agent framework and OpenAI’s collaboration with Stripe, could accelerate adoption by enabling AI agents to browse and finalize purchases on behalf of users, transitioning them seamlessly from discovery to transaction.

Facilitating AI Agent Actions

“Consider a large e-commerce retailer. Users can complete actions such as purchasing items, processing returns, comparing products, or searching for promotions. We assist our clients in making these actions accessible to AI agents. Currently, these agents are not yet utilizing these options or directly accessing APIs, but we anticipate this will change in the near future,” Chandra explained. “As this becomes more widespread and attribution improves, we foresee opportunities for advertising- or conversion-focused models. Our current focus is on helping companies achieve discovery and recommendations through AI.”

Current Client Base and Traffic Volume

Currently, The Prompting Company primarily serves clients in the fintech, developer tools, and enterprise SaaS sectors. They also report that a Fortune 10 company is utilizing their product, for which they currently host approximately half a million pages.

Subscription Model and Growth

The total traffic directed to client websites is in the millions each month. The Prompting Company operates on a subscription basis, with pricing determined by the number of prompts tracked and pages hosted.

Founders’ Background

The company’s founders, all Indonesian immigrants who initially connected as freshmen, previously developed YC-backed Typedream (YC W20), a platform that allowed users to create and launch websites rapidly using AI, before it was acquired by beehiiv and other competitors emerged. They also created Cotter, a passwordless authentication SDK that was acquired by Stytch.

Shaping the Future of Product Discovery

With The Prompting Company, they aim to redefine how individuals discover and purchase products in the age of AI. The seed funding, provided by Peak XV Partners, Base10, Y Combinator, Firedrop, and various angel investors, including Logan Kilpatrick, will facilitate the scaling of their platform and partnerships as AI-powered discovery becomes the dominant distribution channel. The startup is also collaborating with Nvidia on the development of next-generation AI search technologies.

Industry Validation

“If your product isn’t discovered or cited in ChatGPT, you’re ngmi,” stated Arnav Sahu, partner at Peak XV Partners. “We are excited to support The Prompting Company as they build the essential infrastructure for product discovery – already serving Fortune 10 companies and rapidly expanding startups. Kevin, Michelle, and Albert are experienced YC founders, and they are exceptionally talented.”