Wikipedia

You.com

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

You.com
Type of site
Enterprise and Search AI
HeadquartersPalo Alto, California, U.S.
Founder(s)Richard Socher
Bryan McCann
URLyou.com
LaunchedNovember 9, 2021; 4 years ago (2021-11-09)
Current statusLive

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 Benioff.[2]

Following its 2020 founding, You.com opened its public beta on November 9, 2021,[3] funded in part by Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff.[1][4] Other investors include Breyer Capital, Sound Ventures, and Day One Ventures.[5] Benioff invested in You.com and transferred ownership of the You.com domain name to the company.[5]

In July 2022, You.com received Series A funding round led by Radical Ventures[6] with participation from Time Ventures, Breyer Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Day One Ventures.[7] In September 2024, You.com received Series B funding led by Georgian.[8] 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.[9]

Business model

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In 2023, You.com pivoted from its consumer focused search engine products to artificial intelligence tools.[9][10] Around January 2023, the company was incorporating AI chats into its search engine.[11]

You.com provides enterprise search APIs and AI tools, with web search capabilities that can be integrated into enterprise applications and AI agents.[12][13]

Products

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On December 23, 2022, You.com was the first search engine to launch an LLM chatbot with live web results alongside its responses.[14][15][16] Initially known as YouChat,[17] the chatbot was primarily based on the GPT-3.5 large language model and could answer questions, suggest ideas,[18] translate text,[19] summarize articles, compose emails, and write code snippets, while staying up-to-date with current events [16] and citing sources. Several further versions of YouChat were released. The second version, called YouChat 2.0, was released on February 7, 2023,[20][21] incorporated improved conversational AI[22] and community-built applications by blending a large language model named C-A-L (Chat, Apps, and Links).[22][17] This update enabled YouChat to provide results in various formats, such as charts,[23] photos,[24] videos, tables, graphs, text or code, so users can find answers without leaving the search results page. YouChat 3.0, unveiled on May 4, 2023,[25] combined chat functionality with results from Reddit, TikTok, Stack Overflow and Wikipedia.

YouPro

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On June 21, 2023, You.com introduced YouPro, a paid subscription.[26] Both free and paid versions provide access to large language models connected to the internet with citation capabilities.[27]

ARI

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In February 2025, You.com launched ARI (Advanced Research and Insights), a deep research agent that scans over 400 sources simultaneously to produce research reports with verified citations and interactive graphs, charts, and visualizations.[28] The platform targets regulated industries where comprehensive source verification is critical, with customers including healthcare publishers and advisory firms.[29]

Reception

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You.com was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2022.[30][31]

You.com's ARI (Advanced Research & Insights) feature was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2025.[32]

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. 1 2 Paresh, Dave (November 9, 2021). "Salesforce CEO Benioff invests in search engine startup You.com". Reuters.
  6. ↑ Primack, Dan (July 14, 2022). "You.com raises $25 million to challenge Google's search dominance". Axios. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  7. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (July 14, 2022). "You raises $25M to fuel its AI-powered search engine". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. 1 2 Zaveri, Paayal (September 3, 2025). "You.com Becomes a Unicorn, Shifts Away From Search Engine Plans". Bloomberg News.
  10. ↑ Pierce, David (September 25, 2023). "The AI assistant revolution is more than 50 years in the making". The Verge.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ MacManus, Richard (October 3, 2025). "How You.com Survived ChatGPT With a Pivot to Enterprise AI". The New Stack.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "You.com raises $100M to help developers build AI applications". SiliconANGLE. September 3, 2025. Retrieved November 7, 2025.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ Kulp, Patrick (January 24, 2024). "How this early LLM researcher is taking on ChatGPT with his own search engine". Tech Brew.
  16. 1 2 Hachman, Mark. "You.com's AI-infused Google rival provides a tantalizing glimpse of the future". PCWorld.
  17. 1 2 Eliaçık, Eray. "You.com's AI-powered features are already in use, unlike Google". Dataconomy.
  18. ↑ You.com (May 10, 2023). "Introducing YouChat — The AI Search Assistant that Lives in Your Search Engine". Medium.
  19. ↑ Roth, Emma. "Meet the companies trying to keep up with ChatGPT". The Verge.
  20. ↑ You.com (May 10, 2023). "Introducing YouChat 2.0 — Unlock the Power of AI with the Search Assistant that Works for You". Medium.
  21. ↑ Nuñez, Michael. "VentureBeat Q&A: Richard Socher, cofounder and CEO of You.com, says Google is facing a classic innovator's dilemma". VentureBeat.
  22. 1 2 Nuñez, Michael. "You.com challenges Google, Microsoft with launch of 'multimodal conversational AI' in search". VentureBeat.
  23. ↑ Özergin, Özgürcan. "How to use You.com: YouChat, YouImagine, and more". TechBriefly.
  24. ↑ Deutscher, Maria. "You.com debuts multimodal AI chatbot for search". SiliconANGLE.
  25. ↑ "YouChat 3.0 is here — Experience the Ultimate Chat Search". You.com. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  26. ↑ Press, Gil (June 21, 2023). "You.com Launches Subscription Service For Cutting-Edge Generative AI Search Chatbot". Forbes.
  27. ↑ Oritz, Sabrina (March 20, 2024). "YouPro lets me access every popular premium AI chatbot for $20/month - but there's a catch". ZDNET.
  28. ↑ 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.
  29. ↑ Press, Gil. "You.com Launches AI Research Agent, Targeting Regulated Industries". Forbes.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  30. ↑ "The Best Inventions of 2022". Time. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  31. ↑ Mullich, Joe (November 10, 2022). "Ad-free Search You.com". Time.
  32. ↑ Mullich, Joe (October 9, 2025). "The Best Inventions of 2025". TIME.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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