Perplexity Reportedly Looking to Fundraise at an $8B Valuation
AI search engine Perplexity is reportedly in fundraising talks. It hopes to raise around $500 million at an $8 billion valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal.
If a deal happens with those terms, it would more than double Perplexity’s valuation. It was valued at $3 billion when it raised from SoftBank over the summer. The WSJ reports that the company currently receives about 15 million queries a day. It brings in around $50 million in annualized revenue.
Perplexity uses AI to help people search the web. The company offers a chatbot-style interface for users. Some news publishers have accused the company of unauthorized web scraping and plagiarism. The New York Times has even sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter. CEO Aravind Srinivas said he wants to work with publishers. He stated he has “no interest in being anyone’s antagonist here.”
These fundraising talks come after OpenAI announced raising a $6.6 billion round. This round values OpenAI at $157 billion. While products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT have blurred the line between chatbot and search engine, the company is moving more directly into search with SearchGPT.
A Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment on the WSJ report.
If a deal happens with those terms, it would more than double Perplexity’s valuation. It was valued at $3 billion when it raised from SoftBank over the summer. The WSJ reports that the company currently receives about 15 million queries a day. It brings in around $50 million in annualized revenue.
Perplexity uses AI to help people search the web. The company offers a chatbot-style interface for users. Some news publishers have accused the company of unauthorized web scraping and plagiarism. The New York Times has even sent Perplexity a cease-and-desist letter. CEO Aravind Srinivas said he wants to work with publishers. He stated he has “no interest in being anyone’s antagonist here.”
These fundraising talks come after OpenAI announced raising a $6.6 billion round. This round values OpenAI at $157 billion. While products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT have blurred the line between chatbot and search engine, the company is moving more directly into search with SearchGPT.
A Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment on the WSJ report.