Unusual, a startup that says it helps brands understand and influence how large language models describe their products and services, has raised $3.6 million in new funding as companies increasingly worry that AI chatbots can sway customer perception during the buying process.
The round included backing from BoxGroup, Long Journey Ventures, Y Combinator, Instacart co-founder Max Mullen, and Phosphor Capital. Unusual said it will use the proceeds to hire and to continue developing its AI optimization platform for brands.
Operating as Pacific Intelligence Works, Inc. d/b/a Unusual, the company was founded by Will Jack and Keller Maloney. Unusual positions its offering as broader than emerging “answer engine optimization” and “generative engine optimization” strategies that treat AI systems like a new form of search. Instead, the company says it treats AI models more like influential recommenders that compress discovery, evaluation, and selection into a single chat interaction.
Unusual’s software “surveys” AI models by asking hundreds of brand- and category-specific questions to map how models characterize a company, who they believe its product is for, and what attributes they associate with it. The platform then analyzes outputs for recurring themes and, based on that analysis, helps generate and host content intended to shift how AI models talk about a brand.
As an example, Unusual cited work with customer Reducto, which it said discovered AI models viewed the company as “high quality” but “niche software for startups,” despite Reducto serving large enterprises. Unusual said Reducto’s “enterprise readiness” perception score increased from 18 out of 100 to 54 out of 100 over a three-month initiative.
Unusual also said it is working with brands including Monarch, Reducto, Axia PR, and Popl, among others, as it builds out its approach to what it calls “AI Brand Alignment,” or aligning AI model descriptions with how a brand describes itself.
KEY QUOTES:
“ChatGPT is quickly becoming an ‘influencer’ for many people’s buying decisions, but it constantly misrepresents products and services. Businesses today have no control over how ChatGPT positions their brand or what it says to their customers. Unusual helps brands have a say in how they are represented by AI.”
“People use ChatGPT for more than just search. The entire buyer journey–search, discovery, research, evaluation, and selection–is compressed into a single conversation with an AI chatbot. This presents a new, unique challenge for brands, and they need a more holistic solution than just AEO/GEO.”
Will Jack, Co-Founder of Unusual
“ChatGPT’s perception of us was hurting us without our knowledge. Unusual is helping us highlight our enterprise-readiness, and we now have more control over how LLMs represent us.”
Raunak Chowdhuri, Founder at Reducto
“Will and Keller are taking on the next big challenge facing brands: delivering their message to customers who are increasingly relying on ChatGPT for their buying decisions. Unusual is taking a first-principles approach to the problem by treating models like key opinion leaders, and is growing rapidly as brands see AI models influencing their customers. We’re excited to help them build out their team and bring this solution to more businesses.”
Kulveer Taggar of Phosphor Capital
