Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.
Exa Labs Inc. has raised $250 million in a Series C round led by Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company at $2.2 billion.
The startup said it will use the new capital to train its next generation of models and expand infrastructure capable of handling “hundreds of thousands of searches per second,” according to a company statement.
Exa also said it is “assembling the best people around the world” to support that effort, citing recent hires including the former head of retrieval infrastructure at Meta, the head of search backend at Yandex, and a research team from Google.
Don’t Miss:
LaunchDarkly president Marcus Holm is joining as chief revenue officer to lead global go-to-market operations. The hiring push and infrastructure expansion reflect Exa’s view that AI-driven search demand will surge as more autonomous agents come online.
“Building a perfect search engine will be extremely hard. It’s also necessary. Information is critical civilizational infrastructure for our new AI reality. Politics is fragmenting, wars are raging, and AI is accelerating โ we need tools we can trust to understand what’s going on. If we can build perfect search so that every AI has the highest quality information, then every human will too,” CEO Will Bryk said.
Exa’s search tools are already used by companies including Cursor, Cognition, HubSpot, OpenRouter, and Monday.com, along with more than 400,000 developers, the company noted.
Exa was founded five years ago to “build perfect search over all the world’s information,” but pivoted in early 2023 toward an API-first model for AI applications. Since then, it says usage has grown to more than 5,000 businesses.
See Also: Avoid the #1 Investing Mistake: How Your โSafe’ Holdings Could Be Costing You Big Time
The company argues that different AI agents require different retrieval behavior โ from go-to-market tools that need broad coverage of people and organizations, to coding assistants that rely on precise results from repositories and technical documentation. It has tuned models for code-heavy queries and built systems aimed at reducing latency and downstream compute costs.
Exa also highlighted the scale of its infrastructure, saying its crawlers index more than 500 billion URLs and that it has developed its own vector database to support high query volumes. It argues that competitors built on top of existing search engines will struggle to match its combination of speed, cost efficiency, and retrieval quality.
Photo: Golden Dayz / Shutterstock
Read Next:ย
Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market
Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That’s why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, professional financial guidance, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn’t tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.
Rad AI
RAD Intel is an AI-driven marketing platform helping brands improve campaign performance by turning complex data into actionable insights for content, influencer strategy, and ROI optimization. Positioned within the multi-hundred-billion-dollar digital marketing industry, the company works with global brands across sectors to improve targeting precision and creative performance using its analytics and AI tools. With strong revenue growth, expanding enterprise contracts, and a Nasdaq ticker reserved under $RADI, RAD Intel is opening access to its Regulation A+ offering, giving investors exposure to the growing intersection of AI, marketing, and creator economy infrastructure.
Immersed
Immersed is a spatial computing company building immersive productivity software that enables users to work across multiple virtual screens inside VR and mixed-reality environments. Its platform is used by remote workers and enterprises to create virtual workspaces that reduce reliance on traditional physical hardware while improving focus and collaboration. The company is also developing its own lightweight VR headset and AI productivity tools, positioning itself in the future-of-work and spatial computing space. Through its pre-IPO offering, Immersed is opening access to early-stage investors looking to diversify beyond traditional assets and gain exposure to emerging technologies shaping how people work.
Connect Invest
Connect Invest is a real estate investment platform that allows investors to access short-term, fixed-income opportunities backed by a diversified portfolio of residential and commercial real estate loans. Through its Short Notes structure, investors can choose defined terms (6, 12, or 24 months) and earn monthly interest payments while gaining exposure to real estate as an asset class. For investors focused on diversification, Connect Invest may serve as one component within a broader portfolio that also includes traditional equities, fixed income, and other alternative assetsโhelping balance exposure across different risk and return profiles.
rHealth
rHealth is building a space-tested diagnostics platform designed to bring lab-quality blood testing closer to patients in minutes rather than weeks. Originally validated in collaboration with NASA for use aboard the International Space Station, the technology is now being adapted for at-home and point-of-care settings to address widespread delays in diagnostic access.
Backed by institutions including NASA and the NIH, rHealth is targeting the large global diagnostics market with a multi-test platform and a model built around devices, consumables, and software. With FDA registration in progress, the company is positioning itself as a potential shift toward faster, more decentralized healthcare testing.
Arrived
Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.
Masterworks
Masterworks enables investors to diversify into blue-chip art, an alternative asset class with historically low correlation to stocks and bonds. Through fractional ownership of museum-quality works by artists like Banksy, Basquiat, and Picasso, investors gain access without the high costs or complexities of owning art outright. With hundreds of offerings and strong historical exits on select works, Masterworks adds a scarce, globally traded asset to portfolios seeking long-term diversification.
Lightstone
Lightstone DIRECT gives accredited investors access to institutional-quality multifamily real estate opportunities backed by a vertically integrated operator with more than $12 billion in assets under management and a 40-year track record. With more than 25,000 multifamily units nationwide โ including significant exposure to low-supply Midwest markets where rent growth has remained resilient โ Lightstone is positioning investors to benefit from tightening housing supply, strong occupancy trends, and long-term rental demand. Through Lightstone DIRECT, individuals can co-invest alongside the firm, which commits at least 20% to each deal, offering exposure to professionally managed multifamily assets designed to generate durable income and long-term appreciation beyond the traditional stock market.
AdviserMatch
AdviserMatch is a free online tool that helps individuals connect with financial advisors based on their goals, financial situation, and investment needs. Instead of spending hours researching advisors on your own, the platform asks a few quick questions and matches you with professionals who can assist with areas like retirement planning, investment strategy, and overall financial guidance. Consultations are no-obligation, and services vary by advisor, giving investors a chance to explore whether professional advice could help improve their long-term financial plan.
Accredited Debt Relief
Accredited Debt Relief is a debt consolidation company focused on helping consumers reduce and manage unsecured debt through structured programs and personalized solutions. Having supported more than 1 million clients and helped resolve over $3 billion in debt, the company operates within the growing consumer debt relief industry, where demand continues to rise alongside record household debt levels. Its process includes a quick qualification survey, personalized program matching, and ongoing support, with eligible clients potentially reducing monthly payments by 40% or more. With industry recognition, an A+ BBB rating, and multiple customer service awards, Accredited Debt Relief positions itself as a data-driven, client-focused option for individuals seeking a more manageable path toward becoming debt-free.
ยฉ 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.