Ex-Swiggy, Zomato Execs Launch Profound, Raise $1.5 Million
Ex-Swiggy and Zomato leaders Anuj Rathi and Prashant Parashar have founded Profound, an AI-driven platform aimed at giving each professional their personal AI assistant, while securing $1.5 million in seed funding to speed up product development and international growth.
Established by Rathi and Parashar, who collectively possess over 20 years of experience at firms such as Swiggy, Zomato, Cleartrip, Flipkart, Ola, and Walmart Labs, Profound seeks to revolutionize professional networking and career advancement using AI-driven representation.
In conjunction with the launch, the startup has initiated early access for its initial group after months of product development and user research.
The seed funding round drew involvement from various notable technology entrepreneurs, such as Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy Co-Founder Nandan Reddy, ex-Zomato executive Pankaj Chaddah, Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur, WhatsApp Global Head Kunal Shah, and OfBusiness Co-Founder Bhuvan Gupta. Stellaris Venture Partners and 3one4 Capital, both institutional investors, also took part in the round.
The firm stated it will allocate the new funds to enhance its engineering and product departments, broaden its AI capabilities, and expedite the development of its matching and introductions system.
In the upcoming year, Profound aims to establish its foundational network and recruit one million professionals worldwide prior to a larger beta launch.
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Commenting on the launch, Anuj Rathi, Co-Founder and CEO, Profound says, “Just as actors have agents and athletes have managers, Profound gives each professional their own AI Rep. It learns your work and your judgment, and keeps you ready for the next move and the connection that has the potential to change your career trajectory. This is what the future of work looks like when representation is available to everyone.”
Profound’s AI Rep starts with a 30-minute voice dialogue that develops a growing comprehension of a professional’s background, skills, decisions, aspirations, and work approach. The AI assistant operates behind the scenes to discover pertinent opportunities, enable connections, and enhance professional relationships.
Prashant Parashar, Co-Founder and CTO, Profound says, “Voice AI has reached a point where a machine can hold a genuinely curious conversation. We built the reasoning layer that turns those conversations into an AI Rep. That richer understanding of a professional enables significantly better matches, shifting professional discovery from keyword-based search to intelligence-driven matchmaking.”
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In addition to professionals, the platform allows hiring managers to develop AI representatives for various roles and teams. Employers can offer greater context through conversational inputs compared to traditional job descriptions, enhancing talent discovery, candidate alignment, and teamwork.
Backing the company, Rahul Chowdhri, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners says, “There’s a growing gap between how good someone is at their job and how easy they are to find. Resumes and LinkedIn profiles capture titles, not judgment. Profound uses a voice-first, AI-native approach to build an always-on ‘AI Rep’ that represents professionals with far greater depth. We are excited to back the team as they build the professional OS for the AI era.”
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Pranav Pai, Managing Partner at 3one4 Capital adds, “The biggest constraint in hiring today is not the supply of talent but the ability to verify fit. Resumes and static profiles cannot capture judgment, working style or real context. Profound is rebuilding that layer for an AI-first world, and we are backing the team as they redefine how professionals are understood and matched.”
Profound is now accessible through an early-access program, with a wider beta launch scheduled for later this year. In the future, the startup imagines a system where AI agents engage on behalf of people and organizations, facilitating enhanced discovery, reliable connections, and innovative methods for developing careers, teams, and businesses.