London Startup Elevates Brand Presence in AI Searches with $4 Million Funding Injection
London-based enterprise, Azoma, has successfully attracted $4 million in financial backing to enhance brand visibility in AI-driven search and chatbot dialogues.
The startup is pioneering efforts to take advantage of what is known as generative engine optimization (GEO), a method aimed at making information more prominent in AI summaries and conversational AI technologies such as ChatGPT.
Max Sinclair, cofounder and CEO of Azoma, stated to Business Insider, "Our mission is to keep major brands at the forefront during the age of AI-driven search."
Established in 2022, Azoma has innovated two proprietary technologies. The first, termed a "digital twin," is designed to replicate brand appearances in AI-generated chatbot interactions. Since chatbot conversations are generally private, Azoma crafts profiles reflective of a brand's target demographics. These profiles are then used to submit countless prompts to evaluate chatbot feedback concerning a brand.
An illustration provided by Sinclair mentioned dispatching 100,000 queries from a profile simulating a thirty-something male's perspective to find the best coffee shop in town. Azoma then analyzes how the brand fairs against competitors in AI responses.
Azoma's second breakthrough is automating the creation of content that is tailored for optimization in AI search results and chatbot outputs, including product descriptions.
According to Sinclair, Azoma utilizes a software-as-a-service model, billing brands per usage and retailers based on product categories. Their clientele includes prominent names such as Mars, Colgate, Zappos, and Procter & Gamble. Sinclair noted the company turned a profit earlier this year.
The burgeoning field of GEO and response engine optimization is still taking shape, with foundational strategies still under development.
Insights shared with Business Insider from SEO specialists at Google and Microsoft imply that certain foundational SEO techniques are still applicable to GEO, highlighting the importance of creating pertinent content. Sinclair, who previously worked at Amazon, concurs with these baseline concepts, acknowledging that advanced language models have revolutionized the landscape.
"The operation of these large language models is unprecedented. It signals a novel era of technology," Sinclair conveyed. He clarified that AI search involves a broader keyword spectrum compared to traditional search engines, and AI provides a deeper understanding of the user context.
The pre-Series A funding gathered by Azoma came from influencers like Ignite Ventures, Rank Ventures, eBay Ventures x Techstars, Twinpath, and MaRS ISF, alongside several individual backers.
With the influx of new resources, Azoma, co-piloted by Timur Luguev, who holds a doctorate in computer science, plans to fuel research and development while scaling its sales and customer relations teams.
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