Perplexity: AI search valued at US$1 billion in financing round

Perplexity, a startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to build a search engine capable of competing with the Google of Alphabet Inc., raised approximately US$63 million in a new round of investment, reaching a valuation (market value) of more than US$ 1 billion.

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This financing, which will be officially announced soon, represents double Perplexity's valuation just three months ago. Investor Daniel Gross led the round, which featured participation from billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, Figma Inc. CEO Dylan Field, and previous Perplexity investors including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Nvidia Corp.

Founded less than two years ago, the Perplexity offers an artificial intelligence chatbot that summarizes search results, cites sources for its answers and helps users refine their searches to get the best answers. With a focus on precision, Perplexity quickly stood out in an increasingly competitive market and won fans like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who said he uses the product “almost every day”. Perplexity processed more US user queries in 2024 (about 75 million) than it did in all of 2023.

Perplexity AI: Artificial intelligence that cites source of answers

Perplexity AI is a free chatbot based on the GPT-3.5 model, the same available through ChatGPT, which acts as a search engine. It is a tool designed to assist users in searching for information on the web.

A empresa oferece versões gratuitas e pagas do seu serviço, gerando atualmente US$ 20 milhões em receita recorrente anual. Assim como outras companhias de IA, a Perplexity agora busca aumentar sua receita focando na venda de serviços de IA para empresas. A startup está anunciando uma nova versão corporativa do seu chatbot, com preço de US$ 40 mensais e recursos adicionais como segurança reforçada e medidas de proteção de dados. Bridgewater Associates, Zoom Video Communications Inc. e o Cleveland Cavaliers estão entre os primeiros grupos empresariais a utilizarem o produto.

“We want to put Perplexity in the hands of every company in the United States,” said Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of the company, in an interview.

Perplexity also plans to expand its user base to other regions. The startup signed distribution partnerships with two major mobile phone operators, the Japanese SoftBank Corp. and Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, to market the service to a combined total of more than 300 million users globally. Some of these customers will receive a free one-year subscription to Perplexity.

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