According to EU-Startups, London-based startup Searchable has raised €4.5 million at a €45 million valuation, led by Freestyle VC. Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneur Chris Donnelly, the company offers a tool that shows marketing teams how their brand is ranked and recommended by large language models like ChatGPT and Perplexity. The platform integrates with Google Analytics and lets users ask questions like “Which AI models recommend us?” in plain English. In its invite-only soft launch, it generated six figures in recurring revenue within 24 hours, with early clients seeing a 40% increase in AI visibility and a 50% reduction in manual SEO work. The company was built in just 60 days and is positioning itself for the emerging AI search market, which is projected to be worth billions by 2030.
The new SEO is here, and it’s just as messy
Here’s the thing: this feels incredibly familiar. We spent two decades learning to game Google’s algorithms, and now a whole new cottage industry is springing up to game the AI ones. Searchable’s premise is that “if you’re not indexed, you don’t exist” in the age of AI answers. That’s probably true. But it also means we’re about to embark on another endless cat-and-mouse game. Brands will use tools like Searchable to optimize their content for LLMs, the LLM makers will change their models to resist manipulation, and the cycle repeats. It’s SEO 2.0, but the stakes might be higher because an AI’s answer is often presented as definitive truth, not a list of links.
Skepticism and the speed trap
I’ve got to be a bit skeptical about some of these claims. A 50% reduction in manual SEO workload? That sounds amazing, but what does it actually mean? If the “manual work” is just running reports, sure. But if it’s about the creative and strategic thinking behind good content, I doubt an AI analytics tool can halve that. And the company was built in 60 days? That’s impressive for a prototype, but it also hints that the underlying tech might be a layer on top of existing APIs. Now, that’s not necessarily bad—speed to market is everything. But it does make you wonder about long-term defensibility. When OpenAI or Anthropic eventually decide to sell their own “brand visibility dashboards,” where does that leave the startups?
The founder factor and market timing
You can’t ignore Chris Donnelly’s track record. Building and exiting two companies, one to private equity, gives him serious credibility with investors. Freestyle VC isn’t just betting on an idea; they’re betting on a founder who knows how to scale. And the market timing is, frankly, perfect. Marketers are panicking. Their entire playbook is being rewritten in real-time as Google scrambles with AI Overviews and ChatGPT becomes a primary research tool. Throwing a lifeline to CMOs right now is a brilliant move. The €4.5 million round might seem modest, but it’s enough to grab territory in a market that’s just forming. They’re not selling a better mousetrap; they’re selling a map of a brand new maze.
The billion-euro question
So, is this a lasting business or a feature? That’s the real test. Searchable’s roadmap talks about predictive modeling and automated training of AI systems. That’s the key. If they can evolve from a dashboard that monitors visibility to an engine that actively and reliably improves it, they’ve got a shot. But it’s a brutally hard technical problem. AI models are black boxes that change without warning. Still, with projections of €30-50 billion in new value creation from AI search, even capturing a tiny slice is a huge opportunity. For now, Searchable has the funding, the founder, and the fear of marketers on its side. That’s a powerful combo to start with.
