Koah Raises $20.5M To Scale AI-Native Advertising

AI Monetisation Designed for Users

Koah, a startup out of San Francisco, just pulled in $20.5 million in Series A funding. Theory Ventures led the round, and Forerunner, South Park Commons, plus AppLovin co-founder Andrew Karam joined in too. Back in September 2025, Koah raised $5 million in seed money, so now they’ve crossed the $26 million mark. They plan to use this cash to grow their AI-powered advertising platform.

Koah helps developers monetise generative AI experiences without compromising user trust. The company’s SDK integrates in minutes, allowing native ads to appear directly inside AI chat and search tools. These ads are context-aware and aligned with what users are actively researching.

“Generative AI has changed how people consume information, and monetisation must evolve alongside it,” said Nic Baird, Co-Founder and CEO of Koah. “Subscription models alone don’t scale given high inference costs. Legacy advertising erodes user experience. Koah designs AI-native monetisation that benefits users and developers alike.”

Early Adoption and Market Traction

Koah has already driven monetisation for high-engagement AI applications including Liner, Viro, and Sup AI. Liner, a search app used by over 10 million students, academics, and researchers globally, integrates Koah to monetise interactions responsibly.

“We’re seeing users research, compare, and form brand preferences directly inside AI tools,” said Luke Kim, CEO of Liner. “Koah lets developers monetise those moments without compromising trust.”

Over the past year, Koah has reached more than 2 million monthly active users. Each user interacts with AI tools roughly three times per day. The company has delivered over 35 million native ad impressions across 175 million queries, showing strong engagement and effectiveness.

Nick Arbuckle, Founder of sustainability-focused AI app Viro, added: “Koah found a way to deliver AI-native ads that our users actively welcome. It supports our mission while opening new revenue streams.”

New Funding to Expand Platform

The Series A investment will accelerate the development of LLM-native ad formats and expand Koah’s intent-modeling infrastructure. The company will also scale its self-serve platform for AI developers worldwide, providing tools to track engagement and optimise ad performance.

“AI apps represent a new interface layer for the internet,” said Tomasz Tunguz, General Partner at Theory Ventures and Google AdSense alum. “They require monetisation infrastructure built for this reality. Koah is designing the layer that aligns incentives across developers, advertisers, and users.” Tunguz will join Koah’s board following the investment.

Koah’s platform is lightweight for developers. Integrating the SDK requires only a few lines of code. Ads appear clearly as “Ad” within AI chat or search interfaces. They can be placed within or alongside the conversation, preserving user experience while delivering measurable results for advertisers.

Benefits for Advertisers

Koah provides advertisers with a new channel that captures users at moments of high intent. Advertisers can engage users in real-time conversational contexts, aligning products with active decision-making.

“AI-native ads unlock a rich source of intent,” Baird said. “Users are already asking questions, researching options, and considering brands. Koah allows advertisers to meet them at the right moment responsibly.”

Natalie Solano, Head of Product at Luzia AI, explained: “With Koah’s placements, we don’t worry about users disengaging. The ads are transparent and contextually relevant, which increases conversions.”

The platform also introduces analytics for monitoring engagement and ad performance, helping advertisers optimise campaigns and developers understand monetisation outcomes.

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Growth Roadmap

Koah isn’t slowing down. The team plans to keep building out its technology stack for AI-native monetization and, to make it happen, they’re bringing on more engineers and ramping up marketing to reach users all over the world.

Their platform gives developers the tools they need to add ads that actually fit into the experience, so users don’t feel like their trust is being traded away for clicks. Koah keeps tweaking its AI-native ad formats, always aiming for ads that feel natural in conversation—useful, not intrusive.

“We want to give AI developers the kind of infrastructure that grows with them,” Baird said. “The idea is to build something sustainable, where developers, users, and advertisers all get something out of it.”

Koah’s betting big on the generative AI space, and they’re right at the front—offering ways to make money without wrecking the user experience. In short, they see a future where everyone wins.

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