Perplexity defies skeptics with surging revenue and $30 billion valuation talks
Perplexity is reportedly in talks with Nvidia for an investment that would value the AI search startup at over $30 billion, a 50% jump from a year ago. The company's annualized revenue has tripled to $750 million, driven by its new agentic Computer product and enterprise adoption.
Perplexity, the AI-powered answer engine that many once wrote off as a likely acquisition target, is proving its doubters wrong. The startup is reportedly in talks with Nvidia for an equity investment that would value the company at more than $30 billion, a 50% increase from its estimated $20 billion valuation just a year ago. The news marks a dramatic reversal for a company that, as recently as 2024, was widely seen as unable to compete with better-financed rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic.
The reported valuation surge is backed by strong revenue growth. According to The Information, Perplexity's annualized revenue now exceeds $750 million, up from under $250 million at the start of 2026. That puts the company's valuation at roughly 40 times its sales, a multiple that private investors appear comfortable with, even as some market observers question the sustainability of such figures in the broader AI ecosystem.
A key driver of this growth appears to be Perplexity's February launch of Computer, a product that deploys AI agents to perform tasks on behalf of users. The company also shifted to a usage-based pricing model, giving users monthly credits for agentic work. The Financial Times reported that Perplexity's revenue jumped 50% in a single month following the launch, and by March, its annual recurring revenue had climbed to $450 million, with some of that coming from tens of thousands of enterprise customers.
Traffic data paints a more complex picture of user engagement. Similarweb figures show that visits to the Perplexity.ai website peaked at 219 million per month in October 2025 and have been declining since. However, app usage tells a different story: monthly active users on iOS and Android grew from 26.2 million in August 2025 to 37.9 million by February 2026, a roughly 45% increase in six months. This suggests that while casual web browsing may be waning, a growing base of users is relying on the app for regular, repeat queries.
Perplexity's leadership is projecting confidence in the company's long-term trajectory. In early June, CEO Aravind Srinivas told CNBC that the company plans to go public in 2028, regardless of how well rival offerings from Anthropic and OpenAI are received. “Agnostic of these two companies, we were planning for something in 2028 so that still remains the case,” Srinivas said.
The broader AI investment climate remains exceptionally hot. Bloomberg reported last month that private capital pushed AI deal volumes to record highs in the first half of 2026, with no slowdown in sight. Yet some analysts warn of fragility beneath the surface. Much of the financing for high-profile AI startups is circular in nature, with money flowing from investors whose own fortunes depend on the success of the companies they fund. Nvidia, for instance, is essentially providing Perplexity with capital that may be used to purchase more Nvidia chips, a dynamic that also exists with OpenAI and others. If the customer fails to generate sufficient profit from that supply, both parties could suffer.
Whether public market investors will share the enthusiasm of private backers remains an open question. The 40x valuation-to-sales multiple is steep by traditional standards, and the sustainability of Perplexity's growth will likely face intense scrutiny when the company eventually files for its planned IPO in 2028. For now, the startup that was once written off as a short-timer is not only surviving but thriving, having carved out a niche in the increasingly crowded AI search and agentic computing space.
