On February 21st, Genspark, a search startup, secured $100 million in a Series A funding round, propelling its valuation to $530 million. The initiative, aimed at leveraging artificial intelligence to challenge Google's dominance in the search engine market, is intensifying.
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the company boasts over 2 million monthly active users and garnered support from a consortium of investors based in the United States and Singapore.
Last June, Genspark raised $60 million. CEO Eric Jing, renowned for leading Baidu's AI-driven smartphone and smart speaker Xiaodu unit, spearheads the venture.
Genspark is part of a cohort of startups striving to disrupt Alphabet's Google's stronghold in the search engine sector. AI-driven search outcomes, providing singular answers backed by references, represent a potential enhancement in user experience compared to Google's list-based results.
Google itself is exploring AI-generated search findings, while OpenAI's ChatGPT recently integrated internet search capabilities. Another major contender in the AI search landscape, Perplexity, has also attracted noteworthy investments.
According to its blog, Genspark has introduced a feature capable of utilizing multiple AI models that collaborate to conduct comprehensive online research. Comparable products have been launched by OpenAI, Perplexity, and You.com.