AI Search Startup Perplexity Raises $500M, Valued at $9 Billion

The funding round, led by Institutional Venture Partners, triples Perplexity's valuation as competition in AI search intensifies.

Perplexity AI secured $500 million in funding, tripling its valuation to $9 billion within six months.
The funding round was led by Institutional Venture Partners, with previous backers including Jeff Bezos, SoftBank, and NVIDIA.
Perplexity's user base has grown to 15 million active users, processing hundreds of millions of queries monthly, primarily in the U.S.
The company faces increasing competition from OpenAI's ChatGPT Search and Google's emerging AI search features, including a rumored 'AI mode' for Google Search.
Perplexity's growth comes alongside legal challenges, including a class-action lawsuit and copyright infringement claims from News Corp.