Consensus, an AI-powered search engine focused on scientific research, has announced the completion of an $11.5 million Series A funding round. The investment was led by Union Square Ventures (USV), a prominent venture capital firm known for its early investments in successful companies such as Twitter, Coinbase, and MongoDB.
The funding round also saw participation from Perplexity lead investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, as well as previous seed investors including Draper Associates, Kevin Carter, and Path Ventures.
Consensus aims to revolutionize the way people access and consume scientific literature. The company’s AI search engine is designed to make scholarly research more discoverable and accessible to both academics and non-academics alike. Since its launch in winter 2022, Consensus has gained significant traction, boasting over 400,000 monthly active users and nearly $2 million in annualized revenue, with a reported 600% growth in 2024.
CEO Eric Olson explained the motivation behind Consensus, stating, “We are consumer technologists who are the children of academics, teachers, and researchers. We deeply value research and evidence, but we’ve never had the skills nor attention span to comb through the research ourselves. We wanted to apply our backgrounds in consumer tech to scientific research, and try to make this amazing content more accessible and consumable, no matter your background.”
Co-founder and CPO Christian Salem added, “I had been following the advancements of AI and became convinced of its power and utility after playing with GPT-3 in 2020. Couple this with the backdrop of the pandemic and the world clamoring for better access to scientific information – I felt the ‘why now’ for Consensus was too strong to overlook.”
The company plans to use the newly acquired funds to expand its team, accelerate product development, and invest in various growth experiments. Consensus envisions itself as a key player in the future of information discovery on the internet, specifically in the realm of research.
As AI-powered search engines continue to evolve, Consensus positions itself as a specialized tool for those seeking rigorous, evidence-based information from scientific literature. The platform caters to a diverse user base, including academics, healthcare professionals, and individuals seeking reliable information on various topics.
The success of this funding round and the rapid growth of Consensus highlight the increasing demand for more efficient and accessible ways to engage with scientific research in the digital age.
