AI search engine PerplexityAI raises $500 million, valuation reaches $9 billion

AI search engine PerplexityAI raises $500 million, valuation reaches $9 billionPerplexityAI, an AI-powered search engine startup, is raising $500 million in funding, currently in its final stages, valuing the company at $9 billion. The funding will help PerplexityAI compete more effectively against giants like Google and OpenAI

AI search engine PerplexityAI raises $500 million, valuation reaches $9 billion

PerplexityAI, an AI-powered search engine startup, is raising $500 million in funding, currently in its final stages, valuing the company at $9 billion. The funding will help PerplexityAI compete more effectively against giants like Google and OpenAI.

In June, PerplexityAI was valued at just $3 billion. In just six months, its valuation has tripled. Sources say this round of funding is being led by Bay Area venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners.

PerplexityAI's rapid growth is driven by the booming development of generative AI. This year, PerplexityAI has completed four rounds of funding, its valuation also rising. At the beginning of this year, PerplexityAI's valuation was around $500 million, while now it has reached $9 billion.

The rise of PerplexityAI has also attracted wide attention in the industry. Last week, OpenAI launched a search feature in its globally popular chatbot ChatGPT, giving it an edge in the competition with major search engines like PerplexityAI, Google, and Microsoft Bing. OpenAI says the new search feature provides the latest sports results, stock quotes, news, weather, and other information. It mainly relies on real-time web search and partnerships with news data providers.

However, despite the boom in the AI field, PerplexityAI has also been embroiled in controversy for allegations of plagiarism. Last month, The New York Times sent a "cease and desist" notice to PerplexityAI, alleging that PerplexityAI generates answers by scraping content from news media. PerplexityAI denies these allegations.

To address this issue, PerplexityAI launched a revenue-sharing model for content publishers in July, incentivizing publishers to participate. The company says that whenever users ask a question, PerplexityAI generates ad revenue by citing related articles in the answer. The company will share a portion of the revenue with the publishers.

Media and content platforms such as Fortune, Time, Entrepreneur, Dallas Morning News, Der Spiegel, and WordPress are among the first members of PerplexityAI's "Publisher Program."

Dmitry Shevelenko, PerplexityAI's Chief Business Officer, said in an interview that if three articles from the same publisher are used in an answer, the partner will receive "triple the revenue share." Shevelenko said PerplexityAI has been promoting the revenue-sharing model since January and aims to attract 30 publishers by the end of the year.

In August, PerplexityAI said its app has been downloaded over 2 million times and processes over 230 million search queries per month. A pitch deck for potential advertisers shows that PerplexityAI's search volume in the US market has increased eightfold in the past year.

PerplexityAI's rapid growth and successful funding demonstrate the enormous potential of the AI search engine market. In the future, PerplexityAI will face even more intense competition, but its strong technical capabilities and positive development prospects will enable it to secure a place in the future AI search engine market.