AI Search Startup Perplexity In Talks For $9 Billion Valuation

The new valuation, which includes the amount the company would raise, could triple its previous value of $3 billion from a funding round earlier this year.

Perplexity AI Inc., an artificial intelligence company building a search product that aims to compete with Google, is in early talks to raise funding from investors at a valuation of about $9 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The company is seeking to raise more than $500 million in the funding round, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

The new valuation, which includes the amount the company would raise, could triple its previous value of $3 billion from a funding round earlier this year. However, the discussions are still early, and the details could change, or talks could fall apart. The company declined to comment.

Investors in the company include SoftBank Group, Amazon and Nvidia Corp.

Perplexity AI Inc., an artificial intelligence company building a search product that aims to compete with Google, is in early talks to raise funding from investors at a valuation of about $9 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The company is seeking to raise more than $500 million in the funding round, according to the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.

The company’s potential new valuation, comprising the projected fundraising amount, might triple its prior $3 billion valuation from a recent funding round. Nevertheless, these talks are in the initial stages, subject to potential alterations in details or even a breakdown in negotiations. The company has chosen not to provide any comments at this time.

PlayUnmute

Loaded: 1.02%Fullscreen

Venture capitalists have shown a strong fascination in supporting AI companies, as evidenced by the significant increase in Perplexity’s valuation in the past months. In April, the startup was valued at a mere $1 billion, but it has now witnessed a remarkable surge. Additionally, other players in the industry, such as OpenAI, recently secured substantial funding, with OpenAI reaching a valuation of $157 billion after a $6.6 billion financing round.

The recent funding discussions for Perplexity came about as a result of investors reaching out to the company, rather than the startup actively seeking to raise additional capital, according to the source.

Perplexity provides a variety of services beyond its paid and free search tool versions. Recently, it unveiled a new solution enabling organizations to search through internal documents in conjunction with web results and rolled out enhanced functionalities tailored for finance searches, such as real-time stock prices and corporate earnings information.

The company, despite facing allegations of plagiarism from certain news outlets, has introduced a variety of revenue-sharing collaborations with prominent publishers.

SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund 2, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc., and Nvidia Corp. are among the company’s notable investors.

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported on the deal talks.