BrandRank.AI Secures $1.2 Million in Seed and Angel Funding to Revolutionize AI-Driven Brand Search Analytics

CINCINNATI, July 30, 2024 (Newswire.com) - BrandRank.AI, a pioneer in generative AI-based brand search analytics, today announced the closing of its first round of angel and seed funding, exceeding its goal by raising $1.2 million. 

Key investors include Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners and the Mercury Fund. Individual investors include former P&G CEO and Disney Chairman John Pepper and Francie Pepper, early venture capital leaders and Cincinnati Reds and FC Cincinnati investors Jack and Peg Wyant of Grandin Properties, Cincinnati business and civic leader Ed Rigaud, and Claritas CEO Mike Nazzaro (formerly Nielsen Catalina CEO).

Other investors include Antenna Analytics CEO Jonathan Carson, gen.video Chairman Bill Hildebolt, former P&G and Google Executive (now DoubleVerify Chief Commercial Officer) and women’s sports teams and women's sports media investor Julie Eddleman, former P&G sustainable supply chain and product leader Ashish Chatterjee, serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Dave Balter (Flipside Crypto, BzzAgent), former senior Omnicare executive Tracy Finn (now Principal of Bridge Healthcare Partners), and Jim Lites, Vice Chairman of California Strategies, California’s largest public policy consulting firm.

BrandRank.AI  helps brands measure, protect, and grow trust through the power of AI-driven search and discovery. Combining AI with expert insights, BrandRank.AI monitors all major generative AI engines to pinpoint vulnerabilities and opportunities, identifies key insights driving purchase behavior, and uncovers category needs to strengthen brand equity and consumer loyalty.

The company's SaaS platform leverages AI to help brands navigate the "Prompted Moment of Truth" — where a single generative AI search response can significantly influence consumer purchasing decisions. The initial $1.2 million funding will accelerate technology development, onboard a scalable sales organization, and build the support infrastructure.

In four months, BrandRank.AI has demonstrated strong initial traction by landing six corporate customers, including Nestlé and the International Association of Better Business Bureaus (IABBB), and developed a robust pipeline of over a dozen high-potential brands. In recent weeks, the firm has expanded its brand analytics to professional athletes including pilots with four NBA players, and hopes to target women’s sports as a growth area. To further build its sales pipeline, BrandRank.AI is auditing the sustainability declarations of Paris 2024 sponsors and suppliers and building a knowledge base of insights, best practices, and greenwashing watchouts. 

Lee Beech, Senior Director of Consumer Experience for Nestlé Canada, noted that BrandRank.AI brings “electrifying insights that you can act upon in this rapidly evolving space.” BrandRank.AI has completed audits for three Nestlé brands, presenting the findings to the entire marketing organization, including actionable insights on sustainability, a focus area for the firm along with supply chain, responsible AI, and advertising claim validation. "We're also drawn to BrandRank's commitment to sustainability and the power of their analytics in exposing uncomfortable — yet motivating — truths. This inevitably helps us better connect with our customers.”

Leadership and Expertise

The leadership team at BrandRank.AI is uniquely qualified to drive the company's growth. CEO and founder Pete Blackshaw is a recognized digital and brand trailblazer, having served as Global Head of Digital at Nestlé and co-founded P&G's first interactive marketing team in the early days of the web. He recently served as CEO of Cintrifuse, a startup accelerator and venture fund backed by local corporations such as P&G, Western & Southern, and Kroger. 

“We are entering an 'Answer Economy' — powered by generative AI — that’s revolutionizing how consumers discover, explore, and purchase products and services. Brands can’t afford not to know their standing in the answer box: Are they present, doubted, distorted, lacking substance or conspicuously absent? Trust starts here,” explained Blackshaw, a marketing industry veteran who earlier co-founded an analytics startup, Planet Feedback, which merged with Intelliseek and was later acquired by Nielsen. Investors Wyant, Hildebolt, Nazzaro, Carson, and others served as directors or executives of that company and its evolved version within Nielsen.

COO and founder Hank Hudepohl brings extensive startup experience from four prior early-stage companies, including nearly 10 years building global products at TripAdvisor and launching one of the first online trust certifications with Gomez Advisors. He most recently served as VP of Core SaaS Products for Paycor’s 50,000 customers. The team also includes Kelly Cohen, Chief Scientific Advisor, a leader in AI logic systems and LLM interpretation, and CTO Matt Cox (Trip Advisor, Toast).

“We are developing technology to monitor what AI answer engines are saying about brands — be it fact or fiction — and then we give them ways to take ownership. Helping brands build trust with the consumer is at the center of what we do," said Hudepohl. “Our technology tracks brand presence in the new answer engines for both risk mitigation and growth opportunity.”

According to Gartner, brands’ organic search traffic will decrease by 50% or more by 2028 as consumers embrace the new answer engine services, underscoring the critical need for applications with capabilities like those offered by BrandRank.AI.

About BrandRank.AI

BrandRank.AI helps brands measure, protect, and grow trust through the power of AI-driven search and discovery. Combining AI with expert insight, the SaaS platform and service monitor all the major GAI engines to pinpoint vulnerabilities and opportunities, identify key insights driving purchase behavior, and uncover category needs and opportunities to strengthen brand equity and consumer loyalty. The company is based in Cincinnati, and in the Streitmann Center in the historic “Over the Rhine” neighborhood. Legal services for BrandRank.AI are provided by Dinsmore.

Source: BrandRank.AI