llm-optimization
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Scrunch Spent Two Years Teaching Robots to Read Your Website - Then Sold for $225 Million
Chris Andrew bet that AI chatbots, not Google, would become the front door to every brand. Twenty-six months and $26 million in venture money later, Sitecore agreed - and bought the company for a reported $225 million.
Peec AI
Peec AI is a Berlin-based software company that helps marketing teams measure and improve how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers. Its platform tracks a brand's visibility, ranking, sentiment and cited sources across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and other generative engines, then recommends prompts and strategies to close gaps. Founded in early 2025 by Marius Meiners, Tobias Siwonia and Daniel Drabo, the company reached roughly $10M ARR within its first year and raised a $21M Series A led by Singular in November 2025.
AthenaHQ
AthenaHQ is a San Francisco AI-search optimization platform that helps brands see, measure, and improve how they appear inside generative engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. Founded in 2025 by ex-Google Search and DeepMind PM Andrew Yan and ex-ServiceNow engineer Alan Yao, the Y Combinator-backed company treats GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) as the successor to traditional SEO, analyzing millions of AI responses to tell companies whether AI models recommend them - and what to change if they don't.