Ranketta receives 1 million euros pre-seed

The Czech startup Ranketta, a platform for measuring and improving the visibility of brands in AI-based search systems, has closed a pre-seed financing round of 1 million euros. The round was led by Lighthouse Ventures, with additional participation from Gi21 Capital. The startup develops software that enables brands to better understand and improve their presence in AI-powered search recommendations and AI shopping results.

Growing importance of AI in product searches

With the shift in online research towards generative AI systems, new search channels are becoming increasingly important. According to recent data, 50% of consumers already use AI-supported tools to make purchasing decisions, and 44% research more often via AI than Google. However, only 16% of brands systematically monitor their visibility in AI search environments.

This trend has been further boosted by the recent launch of ChatGPT's new AI shopping feature, which brings AI-powered buying advice to the mass market. For brands, this means good SEO is not enough. Products must become visible in AI models themselves.

Product and brand analysis for AI shopping

Ranketta claims to be the first platform in Europe to systematically evaluate both product and brand presence in AI systems. The software shows how often products appear in responses from tools such as ChatGPT Shopping, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity or AI Mode functions and which content or sources are responsible for this.

Among other things, the platform provides

• Ranking of individual products in LLM-based recommendations
• Analysis of the reasons why certain products appear
• Evaluation of brand perception (positive/neutral/negative)
• Identification of relevant articles and sources that influence AI responses

In addition, there is an integrated AI co-pilot that provides data-based recommendations for content optimization and shows which sources or citations can improve the ranking.

Young founder with a research background

Ranketta was founded by Vojtěch Orovec, a 21-year-old Czech AI researcher. Orovec started early with software development and was already working as a software engineer at the age of 18. Before Ranketta, he conducted research in the group of Tomáš Mikolov, one of the most cited AI scientists in the world, at the CIIRC of the Czech Technical University. He was then the youngest product manager at the US company Henry Schein.

His research experience flows directly into the product - in particular into the methodology of how AI models evaluate brands and products.

Rapid growth in the first few months

Despite the company's young history, Ranketta is showing remarkable growth. Just two months after its launch, the platform is already supporting over 20 European ecommerce and D2C brands, including Brainmarket, Boost.space, Purple Technology and Sloneek.

Ranketta currently has an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of 100,000 US dollars, which is set to rise sharply by the end of the year. The company is also on course to reach the EUR 750,000 ARR mark in the near future.

AI visibility as a new marketing field

Investors emphasize Ranketta's technological precision and market potential.

Many companies are trying to address AI search, but Ranketta's product-level visibility clearly stands out. We see the potential to establish a leading provider in a fast-growing market.

Michal Zálešák, Managing Partner at Lighthouse Ventures

Gi21 Capital also sees a structural change in marketing: "Traditional SEO will not define the next decade - AI Visibility will," says founder and GP Damir Špoljarič.

Entering the US market

Ranketta intends to use the new funding to drive forward technological development and prepare for market entry in the USA. Further integrations for e-commerce platforms such as Shopify are also planned, as well as the expansion of the engineering, product and sales teams.

Due to the increasing relevance of AI-driven product recommendations, Ranketta is positioning itself as an early solution in a market that is likely to change significantly in the coming years.