Perplexity's Valuation Soars in Latest Funding Round
AI startup Perplexity, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is experiencing explosive growth. The company is finalizing a new funding round that will see its valuation triple to a staggering $9 billion, a significant jump from its $520 million valuation at the beginning of the year.
This latest funding round, led by Institutional Venture Partners, will see Perplexity raise $500 million. The news comes amidst intensifying competition in the AI-powered search space, with both ChatGPT-parent OpenAI and Google introducing similar features in their search engines. OpenAI recently secured over $6.5 billion in funding at a valuation of $157 billion.
Perplexity's rapid growth is fueled by its impressive performance. Since its unicorn status in April 2024, the company's revenue and usage have skyrocketed by 700%. Last month, Perplexity introduced new features aimed at enhancing user experience and challenging the dominance of Google and Meta in the search and advertising industry.
However, Perplexity has also faced criticism from news organizations for utilizing their content without proper compensation. This issue highlights the ongoing debate surrounding the ethical use of AI in content creation and dissemination.