Seltz, an AI startup focused on redesigning web search for AI agents, announced a $12.5 million seed funding round today. The round was led by European venture firm Speedinvest and global investor B Capital, with participation from Italian Founders Fund, United Ventures, and Future Back Ventures, Bain & Company's venture arm, according to fortune.com.
The funding follows Seltz founder and CEO Antonio Mallia’s vision that traditional search engines, built for human users typing short keyword queries, do not meet the needs of AI agents. These agents generate long, precise queries and require machine-readable information from web pages, including tables and images, rather than snippets designed for human clicks. Mallia explained that AI agents send dozens or hundreds of queries in parallel and need access to the full content to function effectively, as reported by fortune.com.
This investment highlights the growing demand for search technologies tailored to AI applications amid the rise of chatbots and AI agents. Seltz aims to challenge incumbents like Google by providing a search engine optimized for AI-driven information retrieval. The round’s lead investors, Speedinvest and B Capital, have backed several AI-focused startups, underscoring the sector’s expanding interest in AI-native search solutions, according to fortune.com.
Seltz plans to use the new capital to accelerate product development and expand its team. The company’s approach reflects a broader shift in search technology to support AI agents’ unique requirements, marking a notable moment in the evolving AI landscape, fortune.com reported.