Announcing Our $11.5M Series A Fundraise

Written by Eric Olson
July 23, 2024 3 min read

Scientific research is the most valuable source of knowledge that humans have ever created. Yet, there is no easy way to search and consume it. Combing through the literature is a laborious part of a researcher’s process and unambiguously out-of-reach for any non-academic.

We are building Consensus to change this. 

Consensus is an AI search engine designed to make searching for and consuming scientific research papers easier. We strive to enable scientists to stop searching and get back to doing real science, and to empower a new generation of citizen scientists by equipping them with access to real evidence. 

We’ve been humbled by the thousands of stories we’ve heard from users about how Consensus has helped them. From students & researchers who’ve saved countless hours on their literature reviews, to doctors who have replaced all ‘Google-ing’ on the job with a Consensus search. 

Consensus has also enabled users to engage with peer-reviewed literature who had seldom read a research paper before. From parents of children with medical conditions who use our tool to stay up-to-date on the research, to novice fitness enthusiasts who use Consensus to optimize their routines and now break personal records.

Since launching our search engine in the Winter of 2022, we’ve grown to over 400,000 monthly active users and $1.5M in annualized revenue, growing the latter by over 600% in 2024.

Today, we are thrilled to announce $11.5M in Series A funding led by Union Square Ventures to accelerate our mission of creating a world where expert knowledge is within everyone’s reach. 

USV is joined by an incredible group of partners including Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, as well as previous Seed investors Draper Associates, Kevin Carter and more. 

We genuinely could not be more thrilled to partner with USV – they have been thinking about the bifurcation of search for over a decade and their fund thesis emphasizes investing in products that broaden access to knowledge. Between this vision alignment, and their long history of success partnering with companies at our stage, it would be hard to find a more perfect partner for Consensus. 

You can read more about why USV is investing in Consensus from their blog here.

While proud of what we have accomplished to date and the stories we hear from users, we are just getting started. This round of financing will enable us to expand our team of science-loving engineers and operators and double down on building the best scientific search engine the world has ever seen.

We cannot wait to hear from the millions of future users of Consensus about how having easy access to expert knowledge has helped their education, their work, and their lives. Onward.

To read more about our round, check out Bloomberg’s exclusive coverage here.

Join us on our journey!

– Eric Olson, co-founder

Are you an organization looking for more efficient access to external research? Send us a note here: sales@consensus.app