Exa Raises $22M in Series A Funding to Build AI Search Engine

Exa, an AI research company, has secured $17 million in a Series A funding round. The company made the announcement on its website and its official X (formerly Twitter) page on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. Lightspeed led the funding round, while NVIDIA and Y Combinator also participated. In addition to the $5 million raised in seed funding, the company has now raised $22 million in funding.

The San Francisco-based company is founded by two Harvard alumni, CEO Will Bryk and co-founder Jeff Wangaiming. Although they initially aimed to build a better search engine for users, they soon adjusted their vision in the wake of the ChatGPT and generative revolution. The founders spotted a need for AI models to have a web search engine built for them.

The company’s website quotes CEO WIll Bryke: “Search engines like Google were designed for humans, not AI. Whereas Google is optimized for human clicks, AI needs a search engine that’s powerful and precise enough to retrieve thousands of results with the best information. That’s where Exa comes in – we’re the first search engine built for AI.”

Exa enables developers to easily find and use AI models they need in their software development projects. This search engine can potentially transform how developers interact with AI models, making them more accessible. 

The funding will be instrumental in further developing this search engine for AIs, as Exa is already looking to expand its team and build more strategic partnerships in the AI ecosystem.  

Source: https://exa.ai/blog/series-a