Funds for AI Search Tracker BrandRank

Cincinnati, OH-based brand search analytics specialist BrandRank.AI has closed a first round of angel and seed funding, totalling $1.2 million. The money will be used to accelerate technology development, build a sales team and develop its support infrastructure.

The company combines AI with expert insight to track what the major GenAI answer engines are saying about brands, and its influence on purchase decisions, helping client firms spot vulnerabilities and opportunities, understand purchase behavior, and strengthen brand equity and consumer loyalty. It has recently added brand analytics for professional athletes, and is auditing the sustainability declarations of Paris 2024 sponsors and suppliers, building 'a knowledge base of insights, best practices, and greenwashing watchouts'.

According to the firm, Gartner believes brands' organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more by 2028 as consumers 'embrace the new answer engine services' [let's hope they're a darn sight better than they are now then - Ed.]

CEO and founder Pete Blackshaw served as Nestlé's Global Head of Digital, and co-founded P&G's first interactive marketing team. He recently served as CEO of startup accelerator and venture fund Cintrifuse, and earlier in his career co-founded an analytics startup, Planet Feedback, which merged with Intelliseek and was later acquired by Nielsen. The team also includes former TripAdvisor product expert Hank Hudepohl, now COO; Chief Scientific Advisor Kelly Cohen; and CTO Matt Cox, formerly of TripAdvisor and Toast.

Key investors in the round include Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners and the Mercury Fund, plus a large number of individuals including P&G CEO and Disney Chairman John Pepper and Francie Pepper, as well as Claritas CEO / former Nielsen Catalina CEO Mike Nazzaro.

Blackshaw comments: 'We are entering an 'Answer Economy' - powered by generative AI - that's revolutionizing how consumers discover, explore and purchase products and services. Brands can't afford not to know their standing in the answer box: Are they present, doubted, distorted, lacking substance or conspicuously absent?'

Web site: www.brandrank.ai .