Perplexity Eyes $30B Valuation as Revenue Triples to $750M
2 min readPerplexity is in talks for a funding round that would value the answer engine at more than $30 billion, roughly double where it stood a year ago. The detail that turned heads is who is at the table. Nvidia is considering taking part, according to The Information, which first reported the discussions.
The Revenue Behind the Number
Valuation talk is cheap without a revenue line under it, and Perplexity’s has moved fast. Annualized revenue has climbed past $750 million, up from under $250 million at the start of the year. The company credits much of that jump to Perplexity Computer, an agent product launched in February that professionals use to automate multi-step work on their machines, plus a usage-based pricing layer sitting on top of existing subscriptions.
That is a tripling inside eight months, and it is the reason a $20 billion company can credibly discuss $30 billion. The multiple is still steep at roughly 40 times revenue, but it is a different conversation than the one Perplexity was having when it was primarily a search box.
Why Nvidia Keeps Showing Up
Nvidia has become something close to a central bank for AI startups, handing out billions to companies that then rent or buy its chips. The pattern is dense right now. Last week it agreed to pay $6 billion to license model development software from Poolside while investing $1 billion at a $12 billion pre-money valuation. Late last year it took technology and staff from inference company Groq. It had also weighed a multibillion-dollar licensing arrangement with Perplexity as part of building out its own models and software.
There is a personal footnote too. Jensen Huang has said in interviews that Perplexity is his go-to chatbot.
What the Perplexity Valuation Signals
Two things are worth watching. The first is whether agent products can carry consumer AI pricing where chat subscriptions plateaued. Perplexity’s revenue curve suggests they can, at least for now. The second is the circularity. When the dominant chip supplier funds the customers who buy its chips, revenue growth across the sector becomes harder to read from the outside, and that is a question regulators and investors are both starting to ask out loud.
No round has closed, and terms could change. But a company that was worth $9 billion eighteen months ago is now negotiating at more than triple that.