AI marketing startup Profound has raised $180 million in a Series D led by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, valuing the company at $1.8 billion less than seven months after its $96 million Series C. Existing investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and South Park Commons also participated. Launched two years ago as an analytics platform, Profound has expanded into software that helps businesses research and develop marketing strategies for AI-driven search. The company says revenue has tripled over the past six months and that its customer base has grown to more than 1,000 enterprises, including Comcast, The Estée Lauder Companies and Walmart. Its products operate in the emerging generative engine optimization and answer engine optimization markets, which focus on improving brand visibility in AI-generated answers.