Perplexity Skyrockets with $73M Series B: AI Search Engine Valued at $520M Leads the Charge

Perplexity, the AI startup, achieved significant milestones on January 4, with the highlight being the successful completion of its Series B funding round, raising an impressive $73.6 million.

IVP Leads Series B Funding Round at $520M Valuation

Leading the funding round was IVP, known for investments in prominent crypto and fintech companies like Coinbase and Robinhood. Series A investors NEA, Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, and Databricks also participated, along with new contributions from NVIDIA and Jeff Bezos through the Bezos Expeditions Fund.

TechCrunch Report on Valuation

TechCrunch's Kyle Wiggers reported a valuation of $520 million for Perplexity's Series B fundraising. According to Perplexity, the total funds raised to date amount to $100 million.

Fast Growth and Leadership Pedigree

Despite being a relatively lesser-known player in the search engine and generative AI fields, Perplexity's rapid rise to a reported half-a-billion-dollar valuation within two years has drawn attention. Analysts highlight the company's leadership team, including CEO Aravind Srinivas, who previously worked with DeepMind, Google, and OpenAI.

Leadership Background

Aravind Srinivas, the CEO, had interned at DeepMind, Google, and OpenAI, later serving as a research scientist for OpenAI. CTO Denis Yarats, with past experience at Facebook and Microsoft, adds depth to the leadership.

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Perplexity's Entry Amidst Big Tech Trends

Perplexity's entry into the search and generative AI sectors aligns with the broader trend of big tech investing in chatbot technology. Google and Microsoft have shifted towards AI-first interfaces for their flagship search products, with analysts projecting the generative AI sector to reach a value of $667 billion by 2030.

Unique Offerings and Choices

Perplexity distinguishes itself through user choice. Users can opt for search result summaries and outputs generated by Perplexity's in-house AI models or select from popular models like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini.

AI Assistant - Copilot

Perplexity introduces an AI assistant named Copilot, reminiscent of Microsoft's offering. While there's no apparent connection, the functional similarities raise interesting observations.

The article concludes with an objective yet critical assessment of potential similarities with existing products, emphasizing the need for further scrutiny.