# AI Visibility & Answer Engine Optimization Tools (Profound, Peec, Otterly, Scrunch, AthenaHQ, YesPress)

> AI answer engines now sit between buyers and brands, deciding which companies get named when someone asks a question. A cluster of startups has formed to work that layer: Profound, Peec AI, Otterly.ai, Scrunch AI and AthenaHQ measure where a brand shows up across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity, while YesPress.io takes the opposite side of the problem, publishing the editorial record that AI models can actually cite. This story maps the category, the money behind it, and the split between measuring visibility and manufacturing it.

## Achievements

- Profound reached a $1B valuation with a $96M Series C in February 2026 (Lightspeed lead; Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, Saga VC, South Park Commons among investors).
- Peec AI scaled from a Berlin startup cohort to roughly $10M annualized revenue in under two years.
- AthenaHQ, backed by Y Combinator and founded by ex-Google Search and DeepMind engineers, monitors up to eight major AI engines and turns gaps into action items.
- Otterly.ai built a profitable, bootstrapped foothold in the category from Austria.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Profound raised a $96M Series C at a $1B valuation, becoming the category's most-funded player.
- **2026-05** — Peec AI reported roughly $10M in annualized revenue, more than doubling in months.

## Links

- Website: https://yespress.io

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/six-tools-racing-brand-into-ai-answers
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-05