AI Search Startup Perplexity Closes $500M Round at $9B Valuation
Perplexity reportedly secures a massive $500 million funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners, reaching a $9 billion valuation. The investment arrives as the AI search market sees increasing competition from OpenAI and Google.
Perplexity reportedly closes a $500 million funding round that values the AI-powered search engine at $9 billion. Institutional Venture Partners leads the massive investment tranche, which wraps up earlier in December. A spokesperson for Perplexity declines to comment on the specific details of the raise.
This major financial boost arrives as competition in the AI search sector heats up significantly. OpenAI recently launches ChatGPT Search as a direct rival, while Google develops its own AI-generated summaries and plans a chatbot-like "AI mode" for its core search platform.
Despite facing a class action lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement, Perplexity actively expands its operations. The company acquires Carbon, a startup that specializes in connecting AI systems to external data sources, marking its second acquisition to date.