This startup just raised $6.5 million to help brands with AI search optimisation

The next frontier in digital marketing has officially opened. YC-backed startup, The Prompting Company, has announced it secured $6.5 million in seed funding to develop infrastructure for Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). This refers to a new strategy designed to ensure brands and their products are cited and recommended by Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Like SEO but for AI.

The funding round, which was led by Peak XV Partners with participation from Base10, Y Combinator, and prominent angel investors like former OpenAI stakeholder Logan Kilpatrick, validates the rapidly growing belief that AI assistants are replacing traditional search engines as the new gatekeepers of consumer discovery.

Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): Marketing to machines

The Prompting Company, which was founded just four months ago by a team of serial Y Combinator entrepreneurs, is betting that brands must now market directly to AI agents. Their platform works by identifying the exact, high-intent questions users are asking LLMs, then optimizing brand content to meet the AI's requirements.

The problem:

Traditional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) works for human users browsing websites. However, AI agents require a different interface to efficiently extract and synthesize clean, factual data. One that is stripped of pop-ups, navigation bars, and marketing fluff

The Solution:

The Prompting Company helps clients create AI-optimised pages that are structured specifically for machine readability. This ensures the brand’s products and services are mentioned organically in AI-generated answers, such as "What are the best payroll tools for a remote startup?"

CEO Kevin Chandra highlighted the urgency, stating that the fastest-growing segment of traffic online is now AI agents. "If your product isn't discovered or cited in ChatGPT, you're invisible to the next generation of shoppers."

As conversational AI systems evolve to complete multi-step tasks, such as booking and purchasing on a user's behalf, mastering GEO is expected to become an essential discipline for digital marketers globally.

The Prompting Company has said the $6.5 million infusion will be used to scale the platform and deepen partnerships.