Abu Dhabi's BY Venture Partners has backed ChatFeatured in a US$2 million pre-Seed round to expand its AI search optimisation platform for global brands.
The round was led by Storytime Capital, with participation from Garage Capital and BY Venture Partners. The new capital will support ChatFeatured's product development, team expansion, and international go-to-market strategy as demand grows for tools that help businesses optimise their visibility across AI-powered search platforms.
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The investment comes as generative AI is fundamentally reshaping online search. Instead of relying solely on traditional search engines, consumers are increasingly turning to AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity to discover products, research services, and make purchasing decisions. This shift is creating an entirely new category of marketing technology focused on helping brands remain visible within AI-generated answers.
Founded in 2026 by Farris Nasr and Nithiiyan Skhanthan, ChatFeatured has developed an Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) platform that enables businesses to monitor how their brands are represented across AI-powered search platforms.
The platform analyses whether a company is referenced in AI-generated responses, identifies visibility gaps, and provides recommendations to improve content performance. It also automates content creation and publishing workflows designed to increase brand citations, strengthen AI visibility, and drive referral traffic from conversational search platforms.
As AI-generated answers become an increasingly important source of consumer discovery, businesses are beginning to optimise content not only for traditional search engine rankings but also for inclusion in AI-generated recommendations. This emerging discipline, known as Answer Engine Optimisation, is rapidly becoming an important extension of search engine optimisation (SEO).
According to the company, ChatFeatured has expanded into five countries within six months of launch while recording more than 40% month-on-month growth, reflecting increasing demand from businesses seeking to adapt their digital marketing strategies to the AI search era.
The newly secured funding will enable the company to grow its engineering and commercial teams, accelerate customer acquisition, and further develop its AI-powered automation capabilities.
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One of ChatFeatured's key priorities is building autonomous AI search agents capable of continuously monitoring brand visibility, identifying optimisation opportunities, and automatically implementing content improvements without requiring constant manual intervention. The company believes these AI agents will eventually function as virtual extensions of marketing teams, allowing businesses to respond more quickly to changes in AI search algorithms and user behaviour.
For BY Venture Partners, the investment aligns with its broader strategy of supporting innovative AI startups with global growth potential while strengthening links between international founders and the Middle East's rapidly expanding technology ecosystem.
The firm's participation also reflects rising investor confidence in companies developing infrastructure for the emerging AI search economy. As generative AI transforms how people discover information online, startups building tools that help businesses adapt to conversational search are attracting increasing attention from venture capital firms.
The investment also highlights Abu Dhabi's growing role as a regional hub for AI investment and innovation. Venture firms across the UAE are increasingly backing startups developing foundational AI technologies, enterprise software, and intelligent automation platforms capable of serving global markets.
Looking ahead, ChatFeatured will focus on expanding its international footprint, enhancing its AI optimisation platform, and introducing more advanced autonomous search capabilities. As AI assistants continue to change how consumers access information, the company's ability to help businesses improve their visibility across conversational search platforms could position it as an important player in the rapidly evolving AI marketing ecosystem.
Why BY Venture Backing Matters to the GCC
The investment highlights the GCC's growing ambition to become a global hub for artificial intelligence and next-generation enterprise software. By backing ChatFeatured, Abu Dhabi-based BY Venture Partners is investing in one of the fastest-growing areas of digital marketing, Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), as businesses adapt to AI-powered search platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
For companies across the GCC, where governments are accelerating AI adoption under national strategies such as the UAE National AI Strategy 2031 and Saudi Vision 2030, visibility in AI-generated search results is becoming as important as traditional SEO. Tools that optimise brand presence across conversational AI platforms could become essential for retailers, financial institutions, tourism businesses, and digital-first enterprises seeking to remain discoverable in an AI-driven internet.
The deal also reinforces the UAE's position as a regional launchpad for globally scalable AI startups and signals increasing GCC investor interest in infrastructure companies building the future of AI-powered commerce, marketing, and enterprise productivity.
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