A rumor or misleading post can move from a small online conversation into a public controversy. Gudea is building AI tools to help organizations understand how that shift happens and decide whether to respond before a story gathers momentum.
From counting mentions to tracing a story
Many social listening platforms focus on visible measures such as mentions, hashtags and impressions. Gudea aims to go further by showing who is driving a conversation, how information travels between people and platforms, how quickly a story is gaining traction, and where it may go next.
The company says its AI examines behavior, relationships and information pathways across more than 500 mainstream and fringe websites and platforms. Those include X, Reddit and TikTok. The goal is to provide context behind a rise in mentions, giving decision-makers a clearer basis for judging whether and how to respond.
That distinction matters because a growing count alone does not explain what is happening. Organizations may need to know whether a story is spreading through connected groups, what is amplifying it, and whether it is moving beyond its original audience. Gudea’s approach is designed to help answer those questions rather than simply report the volume of activity.
Roots in research on online campaigns
Gudea was founded in 2023 by CEO and founder Keith Presley, Jonathan Sperber and James Thomin. Presley has more than 15 years of experience across political campaigns and defense, including building infrastructure for Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign. Sperber, the company’s chief strategy officer, has a background in disinformation research, while CTO Thomin has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and roughly two decades of experience in AI and machine learning.
The team’s work began with the George Washington Initiative, a nonprofit established after the 2020 election. It adapted strategies used by the intelligence community overseas to disrupt online networks tied to groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, applying them to domestic information campaigns.
The initiative sought to identify the online environments where campaigns were forming and interrupt the routes that helped narratives reach wider audiences. In that work, the team found that existing tools did not show how information actually moved across people, groups and platforms. Gudea grew out of that gap.
Presley described the company’s origin as unexpected, saying, “We’re one of those weird startups where I never wanted to do a company.” The team presented Gudea’s case for a more proactive approach to reputation protection on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
Why the company sees a growing need
Presley argues that generative AI has lowered the cost and effort involved in producing content and coordinating online campaigns. Activity that once required a larger organization can increasingly be carried out by one person with a laptop and suitable software, he said.
He also described a change in the inauthentic activity the company encounters. “When we first started in 2021, and then as a company in 2023, we maybe saw one out of four things we looked at have inauthentic activity around it,” Presley said. “Now it’s probably nine out of ten things that we look at have this inauthentic activity.”
That observation helps explain why Gudea emphasizes pathways and relationships. If online activity is easier to produce and coordinate, organizations may need to understand not only what is being said but also how a narrative is being carried across channels. The company’s stated aim is to provide that situational context early enough to inform a response.
Clients, funding and planned features
Three years after its founding, Gudea has nearly 40 clients, according to the article. Presley said its customers include a Fortune 50 telecommunications company, a Fortune 50 retailer, “one of the world’s largest AI labs, one of the world’s largest bands,” public relations and crisis communications agencies, and government agencies.
Last week, the company announced a $7 million seed funding round co-led by Mudita Venture Partners and Silicon Road Ventures. The investment brings Gudea’s total funding to approximately $15 million.
Gudea plans to develop geolocation for narratives, with the initiative slated for next year. Presley said the technology is intended to help users identify where conversations are happening with greater precision, down to the city-block level.
The company also wants customers to gain more direct access to its analysis tools. One possible use would be to run an advertising campaign through Gudea’s AI model before launch, giving a company a better sense of whether its strategy might lead to a negative outcome. These plans extend the same basic idea: map the movement and likely consequences of a story before deciding what to do.