Artificial user startup Simile raises $200M at $2B valuation 5 months after $100M Series A

Add another member to the Fast and Furious AI Unicorn Club: Simile. Just five months after emerging from stealth and announcing a $100 million Series A led by Index Ventures, it has closed a $200 million Series B at a $2 billion valuation, the startup says.

The Series B round was led by Greenoaks with participation from Index, Hanabi, Bain Capital Ventures, A*, Factory, Definition, and CVS Health Ventures. CVS is also a notable Simile customer.

The startup offers simulated users for areas such as marketing and product research. It was founded by Jun Sung Park, a PhD graduate at Stanford University, whose thesis included a project called “Smallville” in which AI agents mimicked human life, right down to throwing parties.

The startup’s stated mission of simulating “all eight billion people on Earth, accurately and faithfully” is preposterous — the main reason for doing market research is that humans are unpredictable and, like us, guided by emotions and reason. However, user simulation of search is a promising area. It’s like bio-programming for product models.

Other startups in this vein have also attracted venture capital interest, such as Aaru, which raised a Series A in December, also at a massive $1 billion “prime” valuation.