AI-powered search engine Perplexity has reportedly closed a $500 million funding spherical, valuing the startup at $9 billion.
Bloomberg, citing sources acquainted, experiences that the spherical was led by Institutional Enterprise Companions, and that it closed earlier in December. In an electronic mail to TechCrunch, a Perplexity spokesperson declined to remark.
The mammoth tranche comes because the competitors in AI-powered search heats up. OpenAI just lately launched ChatGPT Search, its reply to Perplexity. And Google is creating capabilities to rival a few of what Perplexity gives, together with AI-generated summaries and solutions on search outcomes pages.
This week, The Info reported that Google is planning to take a extra aggressive transfer, probably constructing a chatbot-like “AI mode” straight into Google Search.
Perplexity isn’t resting on its laurels — even because it battles a category motion lawsuit over alleged copyright infringement. On Wednesday, the corporate made its first acquisition, snatching up a startup, Carbon, specializing in connecting AI methods to exterior information sources.