Perplexity Acquires Carbon to Bolster AI Search with Data Connectivity

The $9 billion AI search company plans to integrate Carbon's retrieval-augmented generation technology to enhance enterprise and personalized search capabilities.

• Perplexity has acquired Seattle-based startup Carbon, which specializes in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology for connecting external data sources to large language models (LLMs).
• Carbon's technology enables AI systems to access and integrate information from platforms like Google Drive, SharePoint, Notion, and Slack, enhancing search functionality.
• The acquisition brings Carbon's four-person team, including founders Derek Tu and Aditya Chempakasseril, into Perplexity's operations to accelerate development of enterprise search tools.
• Perplexity plans to launch new features in early 2025, allowing users to search through both personal and organizational data across multiple platforms, though the exact timeline and features remain unconfirmed.
• This move positions Perplexity as a key competitor in the growing enterprise search market, alongside major players like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft, and follows a year of rapid growth and a $500 million funding round.

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