Gushwork Secures $9 Million to Capitalize on AI-Driven Search Shift

As AI-powered search tools reshape how businesses are discovered online, India-founded startup Gushwork is helping companies capture customers from platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity – with early traction that is beginning to draw investor support.

The two-year-old startup announced Thursday it had raised $9 million in a seed round led by Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and Lightspeed, with participation from B Capital, Seaborne Capital, Beenext, Sparrow Capital, and 2.2 Capital. The round values Gushwork at $33 million post-money, up from about $7.5 million following its Lightspeed-led $2.1 million pre-seed in July 2023, according to Bitget. The latest financing brings Gushwork’s total funding to $11 million, the startup said.

The Rise of AI in Search

The funding comes as AI companies, including OpenAI and Perplexity, commence to challenge traditional web search, prompting incumbents like Google to roll out AI-generated overviews and other conversational features across their search products. Gushwork is betting this shift will create a new opportunity to help businesses surface in AI-driven discovery channels using its automated marketing agents.

From Outsourcing to Search-Led Marketing

Founded in 2023 by Nairhit Bhattacharya and Adithya Venkatesh, Gushwork initially focused on helping small and medium businesses outsource workflows using a mix of AI and human expertise. The startup narrowed its focus toward search-led marketing after seeing strong customer demand for help with improving online visibility. Bhattacharya told TechCrunch that the demand around search from customers became increasingly hard to ignore.

How Gushwork Works

Gushwork’s platform uses a network of AI agents to automatically generate and update search-optimized content; build backlinks – typically 10 to 20 per customer – through a network of roughly 200 to 300 partner websites; and track inbound leads through an integrated content management system. The goal, Bhattacharya said, is to help businesses surface in both traditional search results and AI-generated answers without relying on large in-house marketing teams.

Early Traction and Growth

The startup has signed up more than 300 paying customers – roughly 95% of them in the U.S. – with subscriptions starting at $800 per month. Gushwork is currently running at about $1.5 million in annualized recurring revenue after rolling out its AI search-focused product around three months ago and is targeting $3 million to $3.5 million ARR in the next three months, Bhattacharya said, adding that the startup is growing about 50% to 80% month over month.

Across Gushwork’s customer base, about 20% of website traffic now comes from AI-driven search and chat platforms, but those sources account for around 40% of inbound leads, Bhattacharya said, citing the startup’s internal data.

The higher-intent leads are already translating into business outcomes for some customers. In one case, a professional services client has closed between $200,000 and $350,000 worth of contracts after adopting the platform, Bhattacharya said, declining to disclose the customer’s name. He added that many users are seeing meaningful pipeline growth as AI-driven discovery gains traction.

Gushwork’s customer base today is concentrated among high-ticket B2B service providers, industrial distributors, and contract manufacturers, primarily in the U.S., Bhattacharya said. The startup’s average subscription runs about $800 to $900 per month, or roughly $9,000 to $10,000 in annual contract value, he added.

Future Plans

The shift toward AI-driven discovery is still in its early stages but is gaining momentum. Gushwork plans to use the new funding to expand its engineering team, improve model accuracy, and scale its go-to-market efforts, Bhattacharya said. He added that the startup has more than 800 businesses on its waitlist that it plans to begin onboarding.

The startup, headquartered in Delaware with an office in Bengaluru, has about 70 employees in India, along with several contractors.