companies

Consensus

Consensus is an AI-powered search engine that surfaces and summarizes findings from peer-reviewed scientific research papers.

Consensus was founded around 2020-2021 by Eric Olson (CEO) and Christian Salem, former Division 1 college athlete teammates whose families included researchers and teachers. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and built an AI search engine that lets users ask research questions and receive plain-language, citation-backed summaries drawn from over 200 million scientific papers. Consensus raised early funding from Union Square Ventures, GreatPoint Ventures, and angel investors Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, and partnered with OpenAI on distribution. In May 2026 it raised a $30 million Series B round led by GreatPoint Ventures and DJ Patil, bringing total funding to roughly $48.9 million. Consensus serves over 2.5 million monthly active users, including students, scientists, and researchers, and works with more than 100 university library systems; the Series B is earmarked for expanding beyond search into a broader AI research workspace covering writing, annotation, and lab-tool integrations.

Founded

2021

Headquarters

Boston, United States

Sector

applications