AI startup Perplexity is raising more money at a $20 billion valuation

Perplexity is raising yet another round of funding, Business Insider has learned.

The AI search engine is seeking a fresh fundraise at a $20 billion post-money valuation, according to an email sent to prospective investors seen by BI, and a source with knowledge of the raise.

It’s been a busy year for Perplexity, which has become one of AI’s hottest startups with funding from investors including SoftBank, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos. Perplexity just made a $34.5 billion bid for Google’s Chrome browser earlier this week, and it’s been contending with analysts urging Apple to buy the booming startup for months.

The new valuation represents a $2 billion jump from Perplexity’s most recent valuation of $18 billion in its latest fundraising round in July, as first reported by Bloomberg last month. That’s up from a $520 million valuation in January 2024.

All the while, Perplexity’s business has been surging. The startup, which launched in 2022 to combine large-language models with web searches to provide real-time answers to user questions, boosted its annual recurring revenue above $150 million by the middle of 2025. That’s more than quadruple its roughly $35 million in ARR a year ago, according to the email seen by BI.

Perplexity head of communication Jesse Dwyer said Perplexity is currently doing more than $150 million in ARR. He didn’t answer further questions for this story.

Perplexity is facing fierce competition from Big Tech giants like Google — the startup announced its own AI-native browser Comet last month — alongside AI leaders like OpenAI, which is reportedly working on its own web browser.

It’s not clear who’s set to lead the latest funding round. Perplexity has raised about $1.5 billion to date, according to PitchBook.

The $20 billion valuation Perplexity is seeking, while a meaningful lift for the company, still doesn’t come close to the $34.5 billion Perplexity offered this week to buy Chrome from Google. Google hasn’t signaled any intent to sell the browser, despite facing pressure from the Department of Justice to divest Chrome over antitrust concerns. Perplexity told The Wall Street Journal it has received commitments from several investors, including large venture capital funds, to fund the transaction, though it didn’t disclose the names of those investors.

Many have dismissed the bid as little more than a marketing stunt.

“It makes them seem like a big player and helps them with fundraising, talent, and user attention by staying in the news cycle,” one VC, who is not an investor in Perplexity, said.

Perplexity has also sidestepped rumors that it could make a deal with Apple as the iPhone maker falls behind in the AI race.

Dan Ives, managing director and equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities, said acquiring Perplexity should be a “no-brainer deal” for the tech behemoth. “For Apple, time is ticking,” he told BI. Dwyer said at the time that the team was “unaware of any M&A discussions that involve Perplexity.”

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