Former executives from Swiggy, Zomato, Cleartrip, Flipkart, Ola and Walmart Labs have come together to launch Profound, a global AI-native platform designed to give professionals their own AI-powered representative. The startup, founded by Anuj Rathi and Prashant Parashar, has also raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round as it prepares to expand its platform globally.

Backed by Leading Technology Entrepreneurs

Profound’s seed round attracted prominent technology founders and entrepreneurs, including Sriharsha Majety, CEO of Swiggy; Nandan Reddy, Co-Founder of Swiggy; Pankaj Chaddah, former Zomato executive; Harshil Mathur, CEO of Razorpay; Kunal Shah, Global Head at WhatsApp; and Bhuvan Gupta, Co-Founder of OfBusiness.

The round also saw institutional participation from Stellaris Venture Partners and 3one4 Capital, giving the startup both financial backing and access to an experienced technology and startup ecosystem.

Building an AI Rep for Every Professional

Profound’s core product is an AI Rep designed to understand a professional’s experience, expertise, judgment and context through voice-first interactions. Instead of functioning as a traditional career platform, the AI Rep is intended to actively work on behalf of professionals.

The platform aims to help users discover relevant opportunities, build meaningful professional connections and generate greater value from their careers. By understanding an individual beyond a résumé or LinkedIn profile, Profound wants to make professional discovery more contextual and personalised.

Moving Beyond Traditional Hiring

For organisations, Profound plans to create AI Reps for specific roles and teams. These AI-powered representatives can help companies capture deeper context about talent, improve discovery and create stronger professional collaborations.

The company believes traditional résumés and professional profiles often focus on job titles and experience but fail to capture important qualities such as decision-making, working style and professional judgment.

Profound aims to address this gap through AI-driven conversations and a deeper understanding of professionals.

Funding to Accelerate AI Development

The newly raised capital will be used to strengthen Profound’s engineering and product teams, expand its AI capabilities and accelerate development of its matching and introductions engine.

The startup has already opened early access to its first cohort following several months of product development and user research. Over the next year, Profound plans to build its founding network and onboard 1 million professionals globally ahead of a broader beta rollout.

Redefining Professional Representation

According to Co-Founder and CEO Anuj Rathi, Profound is built around the idea that professionals should have representation similar to how actors have agents and athletes have managers. Its AI Rep is designed to continuously understand a person’s work and judgment while identifying opportunities and connections that could influence their career.

With its voice-first approach and AI-powered matchmaking technology, Profound is positioning itself at the intersection of artificial intelligence, talent discovery and the future of work. With strong backing from leading startup founders and venture capital firms, the company will be one to watch as AI increasingly reshapes how professionals and organisations connect.

Featured to The Startup Caffe
Follow The Startup Caffe for the latest startup funding, AI, technology and entrepreneurship stories.