Reports suggest that the AI-powered search engine Perplexity has successfully closed a funding round of $500 million, leading to a valuation of $9 billion for the startup. More details here.
According to sources familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, the funding round was spearheaded by Institutional Venture Partners and concluded earlier in December. A Perplexity spokesperson, when approached by TechCrunch, chose not to provide any comments.
The landscape for AI-powered search engines is becoming increasingly competitive. OpenAI has recently introduced ChatGPT Search, while Google is enhancing its capabilities to compete with Perplexity, such as offering AI-generated summaries and answers on search result pages.
In light of recent developments, The Information reported that Google is considering a more aggressive approach by integrating a chatbot-like “AI mode” directly into Google Search.
Despite facing legal challenges in the form of a class action lawsuit for alleged copyright infringement, Perplexity remains proactive. The company recently made its inaugural acquisition by acquiring Carbon, a startup with expertise in linking AI systems to external data sources.
