AI startup Genspark raises $100 million to compete with Google, source says
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.
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