.png)
.png)
Total amount raised
$15.75M
Latest funding date
2024-07-23
Location
Consensus has successfully navigated seven funding rounds, attracting investment from notable firms such as Sumeru Equity Partners and Frazier VC. The platform specializes in intelligent demo automation, designed to accelerate sales through custom product demos.
Keep reading to explore the intricacies of Consensus's fundraising journey and the investors backing this innovative platform.
Consensus has raised a total of at least $15.75M across three disclosed funding rounds, backed by investors including Union Square Ventures, Draper Associates, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Path Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.
Keep reading to explore Consensus's full fundraising journey, key investors, and what lies ahead for this AI-powered academic search engine.
What Is Consensus?
Consensus is an AI-powered search engine for scientific research papers, founded in 2021 by Eric Olson (CEO) and Christian Salem (CPO) — two Division I athlete teammates from Northwestern University. Based in Boston, MA, Consensus helps researchers, students, healthcare professionals, and everyday users search hundreds of millions of academic papers to find research-backed answers. Its mission is to make expert scientific knowledge discoverable, accessible, and consumable for everyone.
How Much Funding Has Consensus Raised?
- Pre-Seed Round
- Amount Raised: USD 1,250,000
- Date: December 2021
- Lead Investors: Undisclosed
- Participants: Winklevoss Capital, Bettor Capital, Joe Speiser, Mike R. Walsh, Permit Ventures, Peter Jennings, Sam Parr, Laurence Innovation
- Seed Round
- Amount Raised: USD 3,000,000
- Date: April 2023
- Lead Investors: Draper Associates
- Participants: Kevin Carter, Brian Pokorny, Nomad Capital, Alumni Ventures, Winklevoss Capital (reinvestment), Des Traynor, Rob May, Billy Draper, Kindergarten Ventures, David Dohan
- Series A
- Amount Raised: USD 11,500,000
- Date: July 23, 2024
- Lead Investors: Union Square Ventures
- Participants: Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Draper Associates, Kevin Carter, Path Ventures, Alumni Ventures
Total Amount Raised: at least $15.75M based on disclosed funding.
Key Investors
- Union Square Ventures
- Details: Union Square Ventures (USV) is a New York-based venture capital firm known for early investments in Twitter, Coinbase, MongoDB, Indeed, and DuckDuckGo. USV led Consensus's $11.5M Series A in July 2024, with partner Jared Hecht backing the deal. USV cited Consensus as a prime example of vertical search fragmentation and broadening access to expert knowledge.
- Draper Associates
- Details: Draper Associates, the venture firm led by Tim Draper and known for early bets on Tesla, Coinbase, Robinhood, and SpaceX, led Consensus's $3M Seed round in April 2023 and participated again in the Series A.
- Nat Friedman & Daniel Gross
- Details: Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO) and Daniel Gross (AI investor and founder of NFDG) participated in the Series A. Both are also lead investors in Perplexity, making their participation in Consensus a notable signal for the AI search category.
- Path Ventures
- Details: Path Ventures is a San Francisco-based VC firm that participated in both the Seed and Series A rounds for Consensus.
- Alumni Ventures
- Details: Alumni Ventures, a Boston-based VC firm, participated in both the Seed and Series A rounds.
- Winklevoss Capital
- Details: Winklevoss Capital participated in the original Pre-Seed round and reinvested in the Seed round, demonstrating continued confidence in the Consensus team.
What's Next for Consensus?
With its Series A funding in place, Consensus is focused on expanding its team, accelerating product development, and driving growth. The company aims to deepen its AI capabilities and broaden access to scientific knowledge for users across academia, healthcare, and beyond.
Use Clay to Get Funding Data
Sales professionals, leverage Clay's platform to access comprehensive fundraising data. Sign up for free today.
