Former Swiggy and Zomato leaders launch Profound, raise $1.5 million fund

Anuj Rathi and Prashant Parashar, former product and technology leaders with experience across Swiggy, Zomato, Cleartrip, Flipkart, Ola and Walmart Labs, announced the launch of Profound, a global AI-native platform where every professional gets their own AI Rep. The company has also raised a $1.5 million seed round and opened early access to its first cohort following several months of product development and user research. Together, Rathi and Parashar bring more than two decades of experience building global products, growth systems and technology platforms that have served millions of users.

The seed round includes participation from technology founders and entrepreneurs, including Sriharsha Majety, CEO, Swiggy; Nandan Reddy, Co-Founder, Swiggy; Pankaj Chaddah, ex-Zomato; Harshil Mathur, CEO, Razorpay; Kunal Shah, Global Head, WhatsApp; and Bhuvan Gupta, Co-Founder, OfBusiness, among others. The round also includes institutional participation from Stellaris Venture Partners and 3one4 Capital.

The company will use the funding to strengthen its engineering and product teams, expand its AI capabilities and accelerate development of its matching and introductions engine. Over the next year, Profound plans to build its founding network and onboard 1 million professionals globally ahead of a broader beta rollout.

Commenting on the launch, Anuj Rathi, Co-Founder and CEO, Profound, said, “Just as actors have agents and athletes have managers, Profound gives each professional their own AI Rep. It learns your work and your judgment, and keeps you ready for the next move and the connection that has the potential to change your career trajectory. This is what the future of work looks like when representation is available to everyone.”

At Profound, every professional receives an AI Rep that begins with a 30-minute voice conversation. It develops a continuously evolving understanding of a person's experience, expertise, judgment, working style, ambitions and context. The AI Rep works in the background on behalf of professionals, identifies relevant opportunities, facilitates meaningful introductions and helps build stronger professional relationships and careers.

Prashant Parashar, Co-Founder and CTO, Profound, said, “Voice AI has reached a point where a machine can hold a genuinely curious conversation. We built the reasoning layer that turns those conversations into an AI Rep. That richer understanding of a professional enables significantly better matches, shifting professional discovery from keyword-based search to intelligence-driven matchmaking."

Profound also enables hiring managers to create AI Reps for roles and teams. Through natural conversations, founders and hiring leaders can capture far deeper context than a conventional job description, enabling more accurate talent discovery, stronger matches, meaningful introductions and more effective collaboration.

Rahul Chowdhri, Partner at Stellaris Venture Partners, said, "There’s a growing gap between how good someone is at their job and how easy they are to find. Resumes and LinkedIn profiles capture titles, not judgment. Profound uses a voice-first, AI-native approach to build an always-on ‘AI Rep’ that represents professionals with far greater depth. We are excited to back the team as they build the professional OS for the AI era.”

Pranav Pai, Managing Partner at 3one4 Capital, said, “The biggest constraint in hiring today is not the supply of talent but the ability to verify fit. Resumes and static profiles cannot capture judgment, working style or real context. Profound is rebuilding that layer for an AI-first world, and we are backing the team as they redefine how professionals are understood and matched.”

Profound is now available through an early-access programme for its first cohort, with broader beta access planned later this year. Looking ahead, the company envisions a professional ecosystem where AI Reps interact with one another on behalf of individuals and organisations, enabling richer discovery, trusted introductions, and new ways to build careers, teams, and businesses. At its core, Profound is building toward a future where AI is not just representing people, but co-creating intelligent agency throughout their professional journey.