Firsthand

Firsthand is a New York based AI company building the Brand Agent Platform, a system that lets marketers and publishers deploy their own AI-powered brand representatives to engage consumers in real time across owned sites and paid media. Founded in 2023 by digital advertising veterans behind FreeWheel and AppNexus, Firsthand treats AI as a new communication medium rather than a tool for automating existing marketing. Its Lakebed data and knowledge rights management system lets brands retain ownership and control of their content and data while cooperating with AI. The company raised a $26M Series A in March 2025 led by Radical Ventures.