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AI search is getting its own marketing industry – and a Berlin startup is right at the front. Profound was valued at 1,8 billion US dollars in a funding round in September 2026. Peec AI from Berlin had only reported 10 million dollars in recurring annual revenue and on 22 October introduced an AI agent for GEO tasks. While providers compete for capital and enterprise customers, their offerings are changing: from pure monitoring towards tools that trigger concrete marketing work.
Profound raises 180 million dollars – Bluefish and Peec AI follow
Profound announced a 180 million dollar Series D round on 15 September, led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins. According to the company, it counts more than 1.000 enterprise brands among its customers, including Walmart, Estée Lauder and Figma. Profound began as an analytics platform for brand presence in ChatGPT and other answer systems; research, content and reporting agents are now part of the offering.
Other providers are also investing in the next stage of development. Bluefish raised 43 million dollars in April, bringing its total funding to 68 million dollars. The company positions its system for large brands that want to manage visibility, brand perception and measures in AI answers across different departments.
In Germany, Peec AI is growing as a home-grown competitor. The Berlin company received in November 2025 a 21 million dollar Series A, raising its funding to 29 million dollars at the time. In May 2026 Peec already reported 10 million dollars in Annual Recurring Revenue, more than 2.500 customers and expansion to New York. The figures each come from company statements.
Peec Agent shows where GEO software is heading
The most interesting news came on 22 October 2026: Peec AI introduced Peec Agent and expanded recommendations. According to the company, more than 3.500 companies now use the platform.
The previous GEO principle was relatively simple: brands check for which questions they appear in ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity, who is mentioned more often, and which sources the systems rely on.
The next step is operational. For example, Peec can now identify that an important page is poorly reachable for AI crawlers, that product information is missing, or that a competitor appears in a frequently cited comparison article. The agent then supports root-cause analysis, creates content briefings and hands tasks over to marketing, editorial or development teams.
According to the company, there are more than 25 integrations for this, including Contentful, Webflow, HubSpot, SISTRIX and Cloudflare. Changes require approval by default. This turns GEO from an additional reporting dashboard into a workflow between SEO, content, PR and technology.
Established software houses are also reacting: Sitecore acquired the GEO company Scrunch in June to connect AI search analysis directly with its own content management.
Why reviews, UGC and social content are becoming more important in AI search
The new category does not stop at classic websites. On 20 October, Profound and Bazaarvoice announced a partnership that links AI visibility analyses with customer reviews and user-generated product content.
Profound aims to show which questions consumers ask and where a brand lacks credible sources. Bazaarvoice then helps make existing reviews, ratings and image content more accessible to search and answer systems and gather additional authentic reviews.
For social media teams, this is an important shift in perspective. A good creator video, a traceable product review or a helpful community post can become relevant well beyond the original social feed – as a source of information for later AI answers. How differently platforms actually cite such content is shown in our analysis of social media sources in AI search.
What German brands can do with GEO now
For marketing teams, a first practical test is worthwhile even without large software budgets: Which ten to twenty specific product or buying-advice questions does your target audience ask? Which brands and sources does an AI name in response? Are product features, prices, availability, use cases and genuine customer opinions clearly findable on your own pages?
A manageable GEO routine can be built on this: regularly monitor relevant questions, correct faulty product information, publish helpful content, and keep an eye on your own customer reviews and credible mentions. Anyone using a paid platform should also measure its recommendations against actual inquiries, sales and recurring visibility – not solely against an attractive AI visibility score.
The overview of ChatGPT visibility for brands explains the basics. Our report on GEO offerings from publishers and marketers shows another side of the market: traditional media companies are also turning the new search interface into a business model. We also looked at how specialised providers are financed using the example of OptimizeGEO.
The real competition in the GEO market is thus shifting. Whoever can monitor the most AI answers gains attention. Whoever helps teams turn that into better content, clearer product information and credible recommendations could end up lasting in the marketing stack.
Sources: Profound, Series D from 15.09.2026; Bluefish, funding from 14.04.2026; Peec AI, funding; Peec AI, May figures 2026; Peec Agent, 22.10.2026; Profound/Bazaarvoice, 20.10.2026; Sitecore/Scrunch, 03.06.2026; Adweek, industry overview from 12.10.2026.
Illustrative image: Carlos Muza / Unsplash.