NEW YORK — Aaru, an artificial intelligence startup, secured a Series A funding round in December led by Redpoint Ventures. The funding round included a $1 billion headline valuation, though a multi-tier pricing structure resulted in a lower blended valuation.

The company, founded in March 2024 by Ned Koh, Cameron Fink, and John Kessler, has raised approximately $88 million in total capital. Koh, 21, serves as president and cofounder; Fink was 18 at the time of founding, and Kessler was 15, too young to legally serve on the board of directors.

Aaru organizes AI agents into statistically representative populations by assigning attributes such as age, income, zip code, and gender. Its system simulates voter behavior using credit card purchasing history, food-delivery order data, and demographic records. The startup trains its models on behavioral outcomes including election results and consumer purchase data. A simulation of a New York City primary mayoral election predicted the final vote count within 2,000 votes.

Corporate clients of Aaru include Ernst & Young, Accenture, Interpublic Group, McDonald's, Boston Beer, A24, and Bayer. The company collaborated with Spindrift on a product innovation that led to the launch of a still tea beverage. Despite these partnerships, the startup's annual recurring revenue is less than $10 million.

The startup attempted to simulate the behaviors of President Donald Trump and Jerome Powell but could not accurately forecast their outcomes. "People lie. If you ask someone how much they drink alcohol, they’re never going to be honest," Koh said.

No independent assessment was available for this report.