ProRataAI Secures $40M, Unveils Gist Answers
Gist Answers is designed to work in tandem with Gist Ads, an advertising platform that transforms AI answers into high-value ad inventory by placing native, conversational ads adjacent to AI responses.
Topics
ProRataAI, a technology company building AI solutions grounded in respect for content creators, has announced the closing of a $40 million Series B financing round led by Touring Capital.
The investment will accelerate the rollout of Gist Answers, a new AI-as-a-service solution that enables publishers to harness the rapid growth of generative AI by embedding custom AI search, summarisation, and recommendation functionality directly into their websites and other digital destinations.
ProRata has raised more than $75 million since the company’s founding last year.
Gist Answers launched with early-access partners representing over 100 publications. Designed to put control of the AI search experience back in the hands of publishers, the service enables richer interactive experiences-driving longer sessions, stronger engagement, and greater value.
“Search has always shaped how people discover knowledge, but for too long publishers have been forced to give that power away,” said Bill Gross, CEO and Founder of ProRata.
ALSO READ: SearchStax Launches Smart Answers for Site Search
“Gist Answers changes that dynamic, bringing AI search directly to their sites, where it deepens engagement, restores control, and opens entirely new paths for discovery.”
Publishers can also extend their reach and revenue opportunities by licensing their content to ProRata to inform Gist Answers on third-party destinations.
With more than 700 high-quality publications worldwide already participating, Gist is leveraging its core content attribution technology to build an ethical, licensed model where human creativity fuels the AI economy-and shares in its rewards.
Gist Answers is designed to work in tandem with Gist Ads, an advertising platform that transforms AI answers into high-value ad inventory by placing native, conversational ads adjacent to AI responses.
This creates a premium format aligned with user intent, driving performance for marketers and unlocking incremental revenue for publishers.
ALSO READ: Zeta Global Unveils Zeta Answers
“Generative AI is reshaping search and digital advertising, creating an opportunity for a new category of infrastructure to compensate content creators whose work powers the answers we are relying on daily,” said Nagraj Kashyap, General Partner, Touring Capital.
“ProRata is addressing this inflection point with a market-neutral model designed to become the default platform for attribution and fair monetisation across the ecosystem. We believe the shift toward AI-native search experiences will unlock greater value for advertisers, publishers, and consumers alike.”
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, said, “As a publisher, our priority is making sure our journalism reaches audiences in trusted ways.”
“By contributing our content to the Gist network, we know it’s being used ethically, with full credit, while also helping adopters of Gist Answers deliver accurate, high-quality responses to their readers.”
Andrew Perlman, CEO of Recurrent, owner of Popular Science, said, “The role of publishers in the AI era is to ensure that trusted journalism remains central to how people search and learn.”
ALSO READ: 68% of Consumers Prefer Human Agent When Calling Businesses: Invoca Report
“By partnering with ProRata, we’re showing how an established brand can embrace new technology like Gist Answers to deepen engagement and demonstrate the enduring value of quality journalism.”
Jeremy Gulban, CEO of CherryRoad Media, said, “Search has always been critical to how our readers find and interact with content.”
“With Gist Answers, our audience can engage directly with us and get trusted answers sourced from our reporting, strengthened by content from a vetted network of international media outlets. Engagement is higher, and we’re able to explore new revenue opportunities that simply didn’t exist before.”
Paul Edmondson, CEO of The Arena Group, owner of Parade and Athlon Sports, said, “We’re really excited to be partnering with ProRata. At Arena, we’re always looking for unique and innovative ways to better serve our audience, and Gist Answers allows us to adapt to new technology in an ethical way.”
By ensuring attribution is transparent, compensation is proportional, and content is licensed rather than scraped, ProRata is showing that AI can be both ethical and sustainable.
ALSO READ: Loopio Introduces Unleash Connector
