According to foreign media reports, Perplexity AI is in advanced talks for a funding round of up to $500 million, which is expected to push the company's valuation to $14 billion. This round of financing is led by renowned venture capital firm Accel, marking Perplexity's rapid rise in the AI search field as it aims to challenge Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI's dominant position in search. AIbase observes that this news has sparked extensive discussions within the tech community, with investors showing high enthusiasm for AI's potential to reshape the search market.
Valuation Surge: From $9 Billion to $14 Billion
Perplexity AI's valuation growth momentum is impressive. In December 2024, the company completed a $500 million funding round, reaching a valuation of $9 billion, tripling from $3 billion in June. This latest valuation of $14 billion represents more than a 50% increase from the end of last year, although it is lower than the expected $18 billion during negotiations in March. AIbase analysis suggests that despite the reduced scale of the funding from an initial $1 billion to $500 million, the $14 billion valuation still reflects strong confidence in the company's annual revenue approaching $100 million. Social media discussions highlight that Perplexity’s developer network (with approximately 80,000 developers using its API) provides unique investment appeal.
Core Competitiveness: AI-Driven Search Revolution
Perplexity AI focuses on its generative AI search tool as its core competitive advantage, vying for market share with Google and OpenAI. Its flagship product offers real-time information summaries through large language models, supporting complex queries and generating answer citations, widely used in academic research, corporate analysis, and personal inquiries. In February 2025, the company announced the launch of Comet, an AI-driven browser, introducing "agent-based search" functionality to further expand the search experience. AIbase learned that Perplexity’s Deep Research feature can generate comprehensive reports through dozens of searches and hundreds of sources, highly favored by professional users. Official data shows that the application has processed an average of 230 million queries per month, with U.S. user query volume growing eightfold year-over-year.
Industry Background: AI Search Competition Intensifies
Perplexity's funding wave coincides with intensifying competition in the AI search market. OpenAI launched search functions for ChatGPT in the fall of 2024, directly targeting Perplexity; Google optimized its search products with AI Overviews, though initially faced controversy due to errors. AIbase notes that Anthropic recently added web search capabilities to Claude, further squeezing market space. Additionally, Apple plans to integrate AI search tools like Perplexity into Safari browsers, providing it with potential exposure to hundreds of millions of users. Perplexity also addresses content copyright disputes through its revenue-sharing program with publishers (already covering media such as Time and Fortune), demonstrating the maturity of its business model.
The Future Battle for AI Search
Perplexity’s $14 billion valuation not only reflects investor optimism about AI search but also highlights its ability to balance technological innovation with commercialization. AIbase editorial team expects this round of financing will be used to expand the Comet browser, enhance enterprise-level search functions, and optimize computing resources to address high AI training costs. However, social media also points out that Perplexity needs to continuously improve content accuracy and copyright compliance to consolidate user trust. Whether it can break through the encirclement of Google and OpenAI or achieve a user base leap through collaboration with Apple will be key看点.