Muck Rack is an American software company that develops an AI-powered, cloud-based public relations management (PRM) platform.[3] Founded in 2009 by Greg Galant and Lee Semel, the company initially operated as a free online directory for journalists to create portfolios and track the social media engagement of their work.[4] It has since evolved into an integrated software as a service (SaaS) platform used by public relations professionals for media relations, monitoring, analytics, and press release distribution.[5]
The company's name is a reference to the term muckraker, used to describe reform-minded investigative journalists during the Progressive Era.
History
Founding and early years
Muck Rack was founded in 2009 by Greg Galant and Lee Semel.[4] Initially, the platform helped journalists create online portfolios and track shares of their articles on social media, attracting over 10,000 journalist sign-ups in its first year. In 2011, after observing that public relations professionals were using the site to find journalists, the company introduced its first paid SaaS product aimed at the PR industry.[5]
In September 2022, the company announced its first institutional funding round, a $180 million Series A investment led by Susquehanna Growth Equity.[5]
Acquisitions
In September 2024, Muck Rack acquired Keyhole, a Toronto-based social listening and analytics platform. This acquisition integrated real-time social media monitoring for platforms including Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook into Muck Rack's services.[6] In January 2025, the company acquired Ruepoint, a media intelligence firm based in Ireland. The acquisition was aimed at enhancing Muck Rack's media monitoring and analytics offerings by combining its AI technology with Ruepoint's human-curated analysis services.[7]
Platform and services
Muck Rack's platform integrates several tools designed to manage the public relations workflow, with an increasing emphasis on features enhanced by artificial intelligence and machine learning.[3]
The core of the platform is a media database containing profiles of journalists, podcasters, freelancers, and media outlets. Journalists can claim and update their own profiles, which helps maintain data accuracy. The system uses AI to provide users with "Recommended Journalists," a feature that suggests relevant media contacts based on a user's existing media lists and past pitching activity.[4] Users can build targeted media lists and distribute personalized pitches directly through the platform.[5]
Muck Rack has also introduced several AI assistant tools to automate and support PR tasks. Launched in April 2023, PressPal.ai is a generative AI tool that assists users in drafting press releases and pitches from a brief text prompt. Based on the generated text, the tool also surfaces a list of relevant journalists from the platform's database by analyzing keywords and topics.[8] Media Brief Assistant uses AI to generate preparatory briefs for media interviews. The briefs summarize a journalist's professional background, recent articles, and likely interview topics to help users prepare for outreach.[9]
Media monitoring and social listening
The platform provides real-time monitoring of keyword and brand mentions across a wide range of media, including online news, print, podcasts, and broadcast channels. Muck Rack states that its global media monitoring service uses AI and machine learning to track over 600,000 media sources.[10] Following the 2024 acquisition of Keyhole, the platform integrated social media listening capabilities.[6] The 2025 acquisition of Ruepoint added an enhanced media intelligence service that combines AI-driven monitoring with human-curated analysis and reporting.[7]
Analytics and reporting
The analytics suite includes several AI-driven features to help users measure the performance and business impact of their PR activities.[10]
PR Hit Score: A proprietary metric that uses AI to assign a value to each media mention. The score is customizable and can be based on factors such as outlet importance, journalist influence, and article engagement.[10]
Topic-Based Reporting: Uses AI and machine learning to perform thematic analysis of media coverage, helping users identify and track key topics and trends related to their brand or industry.[10]
Word Clouds: Uses AI to generate word clouds that visualize prominent keywords and topics within articles or a journalist's work, helping refine pitching strategies.[9]
Press release distribution
In May 2025, Muck Rack launched a global press release distribution service through a partnership with GlobeNewswire.[10]
Generative engine optimization (GEO)
To implement GEO strategies, Muck Rack launched a product called Generative Pulse. This platform helps organizations monitor and shape their brand's visibility within generative AI.[11] It measures a brand's "share of model"—how often it is mentioned in AI answers compared to competitors—and identifies the specific journalists, media outlets, and URLs that AI models cite.[12] These insights are integrated into the main Muck Rack platform, allowing users to identify influential sources and add them to media lists.[12]
Industry research and reports
Muck Rack regularly publishes research on trends in public relations and journalism, including reports on the impact of AI.
The State of AI in PR
The company produces an annual State of AI in PR report, surveying public relations professionals on their adoption of AI tools. Adoption among PR professionals grew from 28% in early 2023 to 75% by the 2025 report.[13]
AI source analysis ("What Is AI Reading?")
In 2025, Muck Rack released a research study titled What Is AI Reading? that analyzed millions of links cited in generative AI responses.[14] It found that over 95% of cited sources came from non-paid media, showing that earned media heavily influences AI-generated outputs.[14]
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