E-commerce and AI specialist Ranketta bags £1m seed funding round led by Lighthouse Ventures

Ranketta, a platform helping brands understand and improve their presence in AI search and shopping results, has raised €1 million in pre-seed funding.

The round was led by Lighthouse Ventures with participation from Gi21 Capital.

Ranketta enables e-commerce and D2C companies to grow their presence across ChatGPT Shopping, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews by showing how both their brand and individual products appear. After two months of operation, the startup says that it is working with 20 European brands and is now preparing for US expansion.

“Coming from the research world, I saw firsthand the lack of visibility that companies have into how AI systems influence what people buy,” says Vojtěch Oravec, CEO and Founder at Ranketta.

“Traditional SEO and analytics no longer show the full picture of how customers discover products, and brands need tools that work across both old and new search channels. Ranketta turns AI shopping into a real acquisition channel that companies can monitor, improve, and grow. Our mission is to ensure every brand can compete fairly in the AI driven discovery landscape.”

The platform also includes an AI Copilot that reviews each brand’s data and provides tailored recommendations on what content to create and which citations or websites will have the biggest impact.

Michal Zálešák, Managing Partner at LightHouse Ventures, says: “Many companies are trying to address AI search, but Ranketta’s precision and product level visibility set it apart. The company’s early growth, together with Vojtěch’s technical vision, are both highly impressive. With AI search set to influence hundreds of billions in consumer spending over the next few years, we see Ranketta emerging as a key player in this rapidly growing market.”

“Traditional SEO won’t define the next decade, AI visibility will. Ranketta is among the first platforms to clearly decode how AI models evaluate brands and products, giving companies the insight they need to grow in an AI first marketplace,” says Damir Špoljarič, Founder & GP at Gi21 Capital.

RTIH AI in Retail Awards

RTIH proudly presents the first edition of its AI in Retail Awards, sponsored by 3D Cloud and EdTech Innovation Hub.

This is now open for entries. Deadline for submissions is Friday, 5th December. It’s free to enter and you can do so across multiple categories.

Check out categories and entry forms here.

As we witness a digital transformation revolution across all channels, AI tools are reshaping the omnichannel game, from personalising customer experiences to optimising inventory, uncovering insights into consumer behaviour, and enhancing the human element of retailers' businesses.

With 2025 set to be the year when AI and especially gen AI shake off the ‘heavily hyped’ tag and become embedded in retail business processes, our newly launched awards celebrate global technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world and the resulting benefits for retailers, shoppers and employees.

Our 2025 winners will be those companies who not only recognise the potential of AI, but also make it usable in everyday work - resulting in more efficiency and innovation in all areas.

Winners will be announced at an evening event at The Barbican in Central London on Thursday, 29th January. This will kick off with a drinks reception in the stunning Conservatory, followed by a three course meal, and awards ceremony in the Garden Room.