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You.com

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You.com
Website type
Enterprise and Search AI
HeadquartersPalo Alto, California, U.S.
FoundersRichard Socher
Bryan McCann
Websiteyou.com
LaunchedNovember 9, 2021; 4 years ago (2021-11-09)
Current statusLive

You.com is an American artificial intelligence and search engine startup company.

The company was founded in 2020 by Richard Socher, the former chief scientist at Salesforce, and Bryan McCann, a former NLP researcher at Salesforce.[1]

History

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The domain You.com was initially purchased in 1996 by Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff,[2] 24 years before the company was founded in 2020. You.com opened its public beta on November 9, 2021,[3] funded in part by Benioff.[1][4]

In July 2022, You.com received Series A funding round led by Radical Ventures[5] with participation from Time Ventures, Breyer Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Day One Ventures.[6] In September 2024, You.com received Series B funding led by Georgian.[7] In September 2025, You.com raised $100 million in Series C funding led by Cox Enterprises at a $1.5 billion valuation, achieving unicorn status.[8]

In 2023, You.com pivoted from its consumer focused search engine products to artificial intelligence tools.[8][9] Around January 2023, the company was incorporating AI chats into its search engine.[10]

Products

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On December 23, 2022, You.com launched YouChat, making it the first search engine to launch a large language model-based chatbot with live web results alongside its responses.[11][12][13][14] Later versions of YouChat included YouChat 2.0 in February 2023 and YouChat 3.0 in May 2023.[15][16][17][14] A paid subscription, YouPro, followed in June 2023.[18][19] In February 2025, You.com launched ARI (Advanced Research and Insights), a deep research agent.[20][21]

APIs
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In November 2023, You.com launched a set of APIs designed to give large language models real-time access to web content.[22] They were initially offered in three versions: web search, news, and retrieval-augmented generation.[22] By 2025, the company had shifted away from consumer search toward enterprise and selling search APIs.[8] As of September 2025, the company reported processing nearly one billion queries per month.[8]

Reception

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You.com was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2022.[23][24]

You.com's ARI (Advanced Research & Insights) feature was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2025.[25]

References

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  1. 1 2 Wiggers, Kyle (November 9, 2021). "AI-driven search engine You.com takes on Google with $20M". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on June 2, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  2. ↑ Pardes, Arielle (March 31, 2023). "Search Has Its Goliath. Could Richard Socher Be Its David?". The Information. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  3. ↑ Robertson, Adi (November 9, 2021). "You.com wants to remake the search engine". The Verge. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  4. ↑ Baranouski, Artsiom (January 30, 2024). "Top 10 Salesforce SPQ Alternatives for the North American Market". Medium. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
  5. ↑ Primack, Dan (July 14, 2022). "You.com raises $25 million to challenge Google's search dominance". Axios. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  6. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (July 14, 2022). "You raises $25M to fuel its AI-powered search engine". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  7. ↑ Coldewey, Devin (September 4, 2024). "With $50M in new funding, You.com thinks its AI can beat Google on hard questions". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 28, 2025.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Zaveri, Paayal (September 3, 2025). "You.com Becomes a Unicorn, Shifts Away From Search Engine Plans". Bloomberg News.
  9. ↑ Pierce, David (September 25, 2023). "The AI assistant revolution is more than 50 years in the making". The Verge.
  10. ↑ Griffith, Erin; Metz, Cade (January 7, 2023). "A New Area of A.I. Booms, Even Amid the Tech Gloom". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
  11. ↑ Kahn, Imad (December 23, 2022). "Search Engine You.com Launches ChatGPT-Style Chatbot, But Don't Trust It Fully Yet". CNET. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  12. ↑ Kulp, Patrick (January 24, 2024). "How this early LLM researcher is taking on ChatGPT with his own search engine". Tech Brew.
  13. ↑ Hachman, Mark. "You.com's AI-infused Google rival provides a tantalizing glimpse of the future". PCWorld.
  14. 1 2 Eliaçık, Eray. "You.com's AI-powered features are already in use, unlike Google". Dataconomy.
  15. ↑ You.com (May 10, 2023). "Introducing YouChat 2.0 — Unlock the Power of AI with the Search Assistant that Works for You". Medium.
  16. ↑ Nuñez, Michael. "VentureBeat Q&A: Richard Socher, cofounder and CEO of You.com, says Google is facing a classic innovator's dilemma". VentureBeat.
  17. ↑ Nuñez, Michael. "You.com challenges Google, Microsoft with launch of 'multimodal conversational AI' in search". VentureBeat.
  18. ↑ Press, Gil (June 21, 2023). "You.com Launches Subscription Service For Cutting-Edge Generative AI Search Chatbot". Forbes.
  19. ↑ Oritz, Sabrina (March 20, 2024). "YouPro lets me access every popular premium AI chatbot for $20/month - but there's a catch". ZDNET.
  20. ↑ Nuñez, Michael (February 27, 2025). "You.com unveils AI research agent that processes 400+ sources at once". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on March 28, 2025. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  21. ↑ Press, Gil. "You.com Launches AI Research Agent, Targeting Regulated Industries". Forbes.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. 1 2 Wiggers, Kyle (November 14, 2023). "You.com launches new APIs to connect LLMs to the web". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 22, 2026.
  23. ↑ "The Best Inventions of 2022". Time. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  24. ↑ Mullich, Joe (November 10, 2022). "Ad-free Search You.com". Time.
  25. ↑ Mullich, Joe (October 9, 2025). "The Best Inventions of 2025". TIME.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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