Gushwork bets on AI search for customer leads — and early results are emerging

As AI-powered hunt tools reshape however businesses are discovered online, India-founded startup Gushwork is helping companies seizure customers from platforms specified arsenic ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — with aboriginal traction that is opening to gully capitalist support.

The two-year-old startup said Thursday it had raised $9 cardinal successful a effect circular led by Susquehanna International Group (SIG) and Lightspeed, with information from B Capital, Seaborne Capital, Beenext, Sparrow Capital, and 2.2 Capital. The circular values Gushwork astatine $33 cardinal post-money, up from astir $7.5 cardinal pursuing its Lightspeed-led $2.1 cardinal pre-seed successful July 2023, a idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance told TechCrunch. The latest financing brings Gushwork’s full backing to $11 million, the startup said.

The backing comes arsenic AI companies including OpenAI and Perplexity statesman to spot distant astatine accepted web search, prompting incumbents similar Google to rotation retired AI-generated overviews and different conversational features crossed their hunt products. Gushwork is betting this displacement volition make a caller accidental to assistance businesses aboveground successful AI-driven find channels utilizing its automated selling agents.

Founded successful 2023 by Nayrhit Bhattacharya (pictured above, right) and Adithya Venkatesh (pictured above, left), Gushwork initially focused connected helping tiny and mean businesses outsource workflows utilizing a premix of AI and quality expertise. The startup began narrowing its absorption toward search-led selling aft seeing beardown lawsuit request for assistance with improving online visibility.

“When we started, we were focused connected helping businesses outsource faster and outsource better,” Bhattacharya told TechCrunch successful an interview, adding that the propulsion astir hunt from customers became progressively hard to ignore.

Gushwork’s level uses a web of AI agents to automatically make and update search-optimized content, physique backlinks — typically 10 to 20 per lawsuit — done a web of astir 200 to 300 spouse websites, and way inbound leads done an integrated contented absorption system. The goal, Bhattacharya said, is to assistance businesses aboveground successful some accepted hunt results and AI-generated answers without relying connected ample in-house selling teams.

The startup says it has signed up much than 300 paying customers — astir 95% of them successful the U.S. — with subscriptions starting astatine $800 per month. Gushwork is presently moving astatine astir $1.5 cardinal successful annualized recurring gross aft rolling retired its AI search-focused merchandise astir 3 months agone and is targeting $3 cardinal to $3.5 cardinal ARR successful the adjacent 3 months, Bhattacharya said, adding that the startup is increasing astir 50% to 80% period implicit month.

Across Gushwork’s lawsuit base, astir 20% of website postulation present comes from AI-driven hunt and chat platforms, but those sources relationship for astir 40% of inbound leads, Bhattacharya said, citing the startup’s interior data.

The higher-intent leads, Bhattacharya said, are already translating into concern outcomes for immoderate customers. In 1 case, a nonrecreational services lawsuit has closed betwixt $200,000 and $350,000 worthy of contracts aft adopting the platform, helium said, declining to disclose the customer’s name. He added that galore users are seeing meaningful pipeline maturation arsenic AI-driven find gains traction.

Gushwork’s lawsuit basal contiguous is concentrated among high-ticket B2B work providers, concern distributors, and declaration manufacturers, chiefly successful the U.S., Bhattacharya said. The startup’s mean subscription runs astir $800 to $900 per month, oregon astir $9,000 to $10,000 successful yearly declaration value, helium added.

The displacement toward AI-driven find is inactive successful its aboriginal stages but is gaining momentum. Tools specified arsenic generative AI chatbots and AI web browsers are progressively being utilized by buyers to probe vendors and products. OpenAI said successful July 2025 that ChatGPT received astir 2.5 cardinal prompts a day globally, including astir 330 cardinal from U.S. users. Bhattacharya said the inclination is opening to reshape however immoderate businesses attack online visibility.

Gushwork plans to usage the caller backing to grow its engineering team, amended exemplary accuracy and standard its go-to-market efforts, Bhattacharya said. He added that the startup has much than 800 businesses connected its waitlist that it plans to statesman onboarding.

The startup, headquartered successful Delaware with an bureau successful Bengaluru, has astir 70 employees successful India, on with respective contractors.