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Chicago-based startup iAsk has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to build a generative AI-powered search engine. 

Why it matters: The investment bets on generative AI fueling competition with Google's search dominance.

How it works: The startup offers a search engine, available on the web and as an app, that answers questions through a mixture of large language models.

CEO Dominik Mazur and CTO Brad Folkens met 23 years ago in college. Prior to iAsk, they co-founded two other search businesses — Net Ideas, search tools for websites, and CloudSight, an image recognition platform. They started iAsk in 2022 and launched in early 2023. 

The startup makes money through search ads, powered by Google's AdSense for Search, and a paid product that costs $9.95 per month and offers more features and usage. They also developed an API.

Zoom in: Corazon Capital led and was joined by Chingona Ventures, Starting Line VC, Alumni Ventures, Listen VC, Motivate VC, Octava Singapore, Chicago Early Growth Ventures and angel investors.

Corazon Capital co-founder Sam Yagan tells Axios he prioritizes meeting Chicago-based founders and was introduced to the iAsk team a year ago, where he was impressed by the product's initial scale and quality.

"In the last 23 years, I would never, ever, ever have funded a search company. Why would you ever go against Google in search? We are at a moment in time when AI has changed the game," Yagan says.

"Why did Google win in the early days? Because it was better," he adds. "There's going to be such a flight to quality because consumers want the most efficient access to their answers."

Zoom out: Google has long reigned as the leader in search. But the rise of generative AI with new players like OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity has disrupted the business. 

Microsoft has tried to best Google by bringing OpenAI to Bing. In turn, Google has incorporated more generative AI into its products.

Gen Z has also turned to TikTok and YouTube as search engines.

By the numbers: The engine is expected to surpass 500 million search queries by year-end, a five-fold increase from last year. 

According to Google Analytics, 65% of its audience are between 18 and 24 years old.

What's next: Folkens says the funding is for expanding its 12-person team and for marketing. The majority of growth has been word of mouth, he says.

Exclusive: Search engine iAsk raises $4.2M

Generative AI has fueled competition with Google.

Illustration of a hand cursor holding hundred dollar bills.

generative AI or genAI

Chicago-based startup iAsk has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to build a generative AI-powered search engine. Why it matters: The investment bets on <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="generative AI" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2024/05/17/google-openai-ai-generative-publishers" data-vars-content-id="9c38c969-5857-49a0-bc8b-87582121c4ea" data-vars-headline="Exclusive: Search engine iAsk raises $4.2M" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/05/17/google-openai-ai-generative-publishers" target="_self">generative AI</a> fueling competition with Google&#x27;s search dominance.

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Exclusive: Search engine iAsk raises $4.2M

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