Jeff Bezos And Nvidia-Backed Perplexity AI Eyes $18 Billion Valuation In New Funding Round — Doubling In Just 4 Months

Perplexity, backed by Amazon.com Inc. AMZN founder Jeff Bezos and Nvidia Corp. NVDA is reportedly in talks to raise up to $1 billion in a new funding round that would value the company at $18 billion—double its valuation just four months ago.

What Happened: Perplexity is in discussions to raise between $500 million and $1 billion, reported Reuters, citing a person familiar with the matter

This comes after the company was previously valued at $9 billion in November 2024. 

The massive jump reflects surging investor demand in AI search and agent-based technologies that can perform complex tasks on behalf of users.

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Why It’s Important: Perplexity's rising valuation puts it closer to elite AI firms like OpenAI, which raised $6.6 billion in 2023 at a $157 billion valuation.

However, Perplexity's rapid rise has drawn scrutiny. Media companies including Forbes, Wired, and News Corp have accused the startup of scraping and republishing content without attribution.

In response, the company has launched a publisher partnership program to work directly with news organizations.

Earlier this week, SoftBank Corp. SFTBF SFTBY signed an agreement to become an authorized reseller of Perplexity Enterprise Pro, deploying a 7,000-member sales team to boost adoption in Japan.

Meanwhile, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas has stated that the company could enhance Apple Inc.’s AAPL AI capabilities, amid criticism of Cupertino for its delayed AI initiatives.

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.