Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has significantly invested in Perplexity AI, a startup challenging Google in the realm of search engines. Originally valued at approximately $520 million during an earlier funding round, Perplexity AI is now in the final stages of securing a new funding deal that would value the company at around $1 billion, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. This substantial increase in valuation reflects the rapid growth of Perplexity AI, which has achieved 10 million monthly active users.Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, emphasized the boldness inherent in startups, stating, “Are you building a company that has unbounded potential Thats risky, but theres an infinite reward if it works.” Founded in August 2022, Perplexity AI is positioning itself against Google by providing an AI-based search engine described as part chatbot and part search engine, offering real-time information and footnotes showing the sources of its answers.In January of this year, Perplexity reached the milestone of 10 million monthly active users and processed over half a billion queries in 2023. The company secured $73.6 million in funding from venture capitalists, Nvidia, and various angel investors, including Jeff Bezos. Jonathan Cohen, VP of applied research at Nvidia, commended Perplexity for being “one of the few consumer AI products to reach this major milestone of 10 million MAUs,” predicting that artificial intelligence will “transform how we access information.”According to Perplexitys CEO, the company envisions Google as a legacy product, asserting that Perplexity represents the next generation and the future. He criticized Googles lack of incentive to innovate quickly, attributing its core revenue to user clicks on links. Perplexitys value proposition lies in offering a free product of exceptional quality while providing an even more advanced experience for paid users.In a January announcement, the CEO highlighted the companys vision for a more efficient information consumption and sharing experience, proclaiming, “The times of sifting through SEO spam, sponsored links, and multiple web pages will be replaced by a much more efficient way to consume and share information. Perplexity AIs innovative approach aims to revolutionize the search engine landscape, challenging established players and offering users a more streamlined and effective information retrieval process.
