Former Swiggy, Zomato leaders launch AI startup Profound
Profound, founded by former Swiggy and Zomato executives, has raised $1.5 million to expand its AI-powered professional representation platform, aiming to improve hiring, networking and career discovery through personalised AI representatives.
Former Swiggy and Zomato leaders Anuj Rathi and Prashant Parashar have launched Profound, a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup, which has raised $1.5 million in a seed funding round from a mix of prominent technology founders and venture capital firms.
The round includes participation from Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety, Swiggy co-founder Nandan Reddy, former Zomato co-founder Pankaj Chaddah, Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur, WhatsApp Global Head Kunal Shah, OfBusiness co-founder Bhuvan Gupta, along with early-stage investors Stellaris Venture Partners and 3one4 Capital.
The company plans to use the funding to expand its engineering and product teams, strengthen its AI capabilities, and accelerate development of its matching and introductions engine.
Over the next year, it aims to build its founding network and onboard one million professionals globally before a wider beta launch.
Profound is building what it calls an AI Rep, a personalised AI assistant that represents professionals rather than simply responding to queries.
“Just as actors have agents and athletes have managers, Profound gives each professional their own AI Rep,” co-founder and chief executive officer Rathi said, adding that the platform is designed to keep professionals ready for career opportunities and meaningful connections.
The system begins with a 30-minute voice conversation and develops an evolving understanding of an individual’s experience, judgement, ambitions and work style. It then identifies relevant opportunities, facilitates introductions and helps users build professional relationships.
The platform also enables organisations to create AI representatives for roles and teams to improve hiring and talent discovery.
Co-founder and chief technology officer Parashar said advances in voice AI now allow machines to hold natural conversations, enabling Profound to build a reasoning layer that delivers “significantly better matches” than conventional keyword-based professional search.
Investors believe the startup addresses a growing weakness in traditional recruitment tools. Stellaris Venture Partners’ Rahul Chowdhri said resumes and online profiles often capture job titles but not judgement, while 3one4 Capital’s Pranav Pai argued that verifying whether a candidate truly fits a role remains one of hiring’s biggest challenges.
Profound enters the market as AI-focused startups continue to attract investor interest in India. Recent examples include Sarvam AI, which became India’s newest AI unicorn after raising $234 million, reflecting strong investor appetite for companies building AI infrastructure and applications.
Edited by Megha Reddy