The Outpost is a comprehensive collection of curated artificial intelligence software tools that cater to the needs of small business owners, bloggers, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, marketers, writers, and researchers.
© 2025 TheOutpost.AI All rights reserved
Curated by THEOUTPOST
On Sat, 22 Feb, 8:02 AM UTC
2 Sources
[1]
AI search engine startup Genspark reportedly raises $100M at $530M valuation - SiliconANGLE
AI search engine startup Genspark reportedly raises $100M at $530M valuation Genspark, an artificial intelligence search startup that competes with Google LLC, has reportedly raised $100 million in funding. Reuters today cited sources as saying that the round was led by a group of U.S. and Singapore-based investors. The deal reportedly values Genspark at $530 million, more than twice what it was worth in June. Genspark, officially Mainfunc Inc., launched last year with $60 million in initial funding. Its namesake search engine topped one million monthly users in November. Sources told Reuters that Genspark now has two million users, which was likely one of the factors behind the steep increase in the company's valuation. Genspark's search engine uses large language models to process queries. When a user types in a question, the service doesn't return a list of relevant webpages but rather displays a natural language answer. Genspark organizes each of its prompt responses into a webpage called Sparkpages that allows users to ask followup questions. The company also offers a number of specialized search features. One capability is geared towards browsing e-commerce websites' product listings. Another tool, Genspark Finance, visualizes data from earnings reports in graphs to ease analysis. One of the latest additions to the search engine's feature set is a capability called Deep Research. It provides more detailed answers to user queries at the cost of increased wait times: Genspark says that a prompt response can take up to 30 minutes to generate. According to the company, the feature spends that time analyzing more than one million words' worth of information from over one thousand sources. Under the hood, Genspark's search engine is powered by what it describes as a mixture-of-agent architecture. The software sends each user query to LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic PBC and Google. Genspark removes inconsistencies between the models' responses and then combines them into a single answer. Today's report didn't specify how the company plans to spend its newly raised funding. One possibility is that Genspark could add reasoning-optimized LLMs to the lineup of models it uses to process prompts. According to a Feb. 10 blog post, the company's search engine relies on GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Gemini 2.0 Flash to answer queries. Those are midrange LLMs that balance output quality with hardware efficiency. Adding a more hardware-intensive, reasoning-optimized model such as OpenAI's o1 to the list could potentially help Genspark enhance its search engine's output.
[2]
AI startup Genspark raises $100 million to compete with Google, source says
Feb 21 (Reuters) - Search startup Genspark has raised $100 million in a series A funding round, valuing the startup at $530 million, according to a source familiar with the matter, as the race to use artificial intelligence to disrupt Google's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab stranglehold on the search engine market heats up. The Palo Alto-based company currently has over 2 million monthly active users, and the round was led by a group of U.S. and Singapore-based investors, the source said. The company raised a $60 million seed round last June. Its CEO Eric Jing led Baidu's (9888.HK), opens new tab AI-powered smartphone and smart speaker Xiaodu unit. Genspark is one of a number of startups attempting to uproot the search engine market dominated by Alphabet's Google. AI-generated search results can offer a single answer with citations, a potential user experience improvement compared to Google's link lists. Google itself is experimenting with AI search results, while OpenAI's ChatGPT recently integrated internet search capabilities. Another big player in the AI search space, Perplexity, has raised funds valuing it at $9 billion. According to its blog, Genspark says it has developed a feature capable of using multiple AI models that work together to conduct in-depth research online. OpenAI, Perplexity and You.com have also released similar products. Reporting by Anna Tong in San Francisco; Editing by Stephen Coates Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab Suggested Topics:Artificial Intelligence Anna Tong Thomson Reuters Anna Tong is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where she reports on the technology industry. She joined Reuters in 2023 after working at the San Francisco Standard as a data editor. Tong previously worked at technology startups as a product manager and at Google where she worked in user insights and helped run a call center. Tong graduated from Harvard University.
Share
Share
Copy Link
Genspark, an AI-powered search engine startup, has raised $100 million in a Series A funding round, valuing the company at $530 million. The funding boost positions Genspark to compete with Google in the evolving AI search market.
Genspark, an artificial intelligence search startup, has reportedly secured $100 million in a Series A funding round, catapulting its valuation to $530 million 12. This significant investment, led by a group of U.S. and Singapore-based investors, marks a substantial increase from the company's $60 million seed round in June last year 2. The funding round reflects growing investor confidence in AI-powered search alternatives to traditional search engines.
Since its launch in 2024, Genspark has experienced remarkable user growth. The company, officially known as Mainfunc Inc., reached one million monthly users in November and has since doubled its user base to two million monthly active users 12. This rapid expansion has likely contributed to the steep increase in the company's valuation, positioning Genspark as a notable player in the AI search market.
Genspark's search engine leverages large language models (LLMs) to process user queries, offering a distinct approach compared to traditional search engines 1. Instead of returning a list of relevant webpages, Genspark provides natural language answers to user questions. The company organizes its responses into "Sparkpages," which allow users to ask follow-up questions, enhancing the interactive search experience.
The startup has developed several specialized search features to differentiate itself in the market:
The Deep Research feature is particularly noteworthy, as it can analyze over one million words from more than a thousand sources to generate detailed responses, albeit with longer processing times of up to 30 minutes 1.
Genspark employs a "mixture-of-agent" architecture, utilizing LLMs from multiple providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google 1. This approach combines responses from different models, removing inconsistencies to produce a unified answer. The company currently relies on midrange LLMs such as GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Gemini 2.0 Flash to balance output quality and hardware efficiency.
Genspark's funding success highlights the intensifying competition in the AI-powered search engine market. As companies like OpenAI integrate internet search capabilities into ChatGPT and Google experiments with AI search results, the race to disrupt the traditional search engine landscape is heating up 2. Other notable players in this space include Perplexity, which has recently been valued at $9 billion 2.
Led by CEO Eric Jing, who previously headed Baidu's AI-powered smartphone and smart speaker Xiaodu unit, Genspark is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for AI-enhanced search experiences 2. While the company has not specified how it plans to utilize the new funding, industry speculation suggests that Genspark may invest in integrating more advanced, reasoning-optimized LLMs to further enhance its search capabilities 1.
Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine startup, is finalizing a $500 million funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners, potentially valuing the company at $9 billion. This significant investment highlights the growing interest in AI-driven search technologies and Perplexity's rapid ascent in the competitive landscape.
6 Sources
6 Sources
Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine startup, has closed a $500 million funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners, tripling its valuation to $9 billion. The company is rapidly growing and competing with tech giants in the evolving AI search market.
7 Sources
7 Sources
Glean, an AI-powered enterprise search startup, has raised $260 million in a new funding round, doubling its valuation to $4.6 billion. The company aims to revolutionize workplace productivity with its advanced AI search technology.
6 Sources
6 Sources
OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed AI company, has entered the search engine market with SearchGPT, a new AI-powered tool designed to rival Google's long-standing dominance in the field.
16 Sources
16 Sources
Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine startup, is experiencing explosive growth and is reportedly in talks for a massive funding round that could value the company at $8 billion. The company now serves over 100 million queries per week and is introducing innovative features to compete with traditional search engines.
17 Sources
17 Sources
