Perplexity AI, a California-based AI search engine startup, has secured an impressive $73.6 million in a series B funding round. The funding was led by Institutional Venture Partners LLC and saw additional contributions from notable investors such as Databricks Ventures, former Twitter VP Elad Gil, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos. This round of funding has pushed Perplexity AI’s valuation to an impressive $520 million.
Founded in August 2022 by industry veterans Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, Perplexity AI has quickly established itself as a leader in the AI search engine space. Their unique approach utilizes in-house large language models (LLMs) to power a chatbot-like interface, allowing users to communicate their queries in natural language.
One of the standout features of Perplexity AI is the ability for users to select their preferred LLM from various options, including OpenAI’s GPT-4, Anthropic’s Claude 2.1, Google Gemini, or the company’s own Perplexity Pro. This level of customization allows subscribers to have a more tailored and personalized search experience.
The company has recently launched Copilot, an AI research assistant. Copilot offers different “focus” modes, enabling users to narrow down their search domain and refine their queries with follow-up questions. By eliminating the need for precise phrasing, Perplexity AI aims to provide users with more relevant and comprehensive answers compared to traditional search engines or AI chatbots.
Since its launch, Perplexity AI has experienced impressive growth, boasting over 10 million monthly active users in the span of one year. In 2023 alone, the AI search engine app managed to resolve over half a billion queries. The application has also been installed on both iOS and Android devices over a million times during this period.
With this significant injection of funds, Perplexity AI is poised to further innovate and expand its capabilities in the AI search engine market. The startup’s success highlights the increasing demand for more intuitive and user-friendly search experiences driven by AI technology.
The source of the article is from the blog aovotice.cz