Perplexity AI, a trailblazer in conversational artificial intelligence, has raised USD 63 million in a new funding round that values the company at USD 1 billion.
The investment was led by notable figures such as Daniel Gross, with significant contributions from Jeff Bezos, Nvidia and other prominent investors, including Stanley Druckenmiller, Tobi Lutke, and Garry Tan. This marks a substantial step forward in the company's ambitious plans to expand globally and disrupt the traditional search market.
Founded in August 2022 by a group of former Google AI colleagues, Perplexity AI has quickly emerged as a key player in the AI field. Discontent with the limitations in accessing and utilising large language models prompted Andy Konwinski, Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats and Johnny Ho to establish a platform that enhances the way users interact with AI-driven search technologies.
Since its Series B funding earlier this year, Perplexity AI has demonstrated significant growth, now handling 169 million queries per month and surpassing 1 billion queries in the past 15 months. The recent funding will be used to further scale the company's consumer reach and broaden its enterprise applications.
Perplexity AI's strategic partnerships with major telecommunications companies like SoftBank in Japan, Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and SK Telecoms in Korea, extend its reach to over 116 million users globally. These alliances are crucial as they facilitate wider accessibility and integration of Perplexity's AI solutions into mainstream platforms, enhancing user experiences worldwide.
Moreover, the company has made its platform more inclusive by offering AI models in various languages including Korean, German, French, and Spanish, catering to a diverse global audience. The endorsements from tech leaders like Nvidia's Jensen Huang, who claims to use Perplexity almost every day, highlight the platform's utility and growing popularity.
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