Perplexity AI Raises $100 Million Valuation Hits $18 Billion

Perplexity AI, a pioneering AI search engine, has successfully raised $100 million in its latest funding round, achieving a valuation of $18 billion. This significant milestone marks a $4 billion increase in the company's value since May 2025. The funding round attracted new investors who expressed confidence in the company's growth potential at the elevated valuation.

Perplexity AI differentiates itself from competitors like Google by integrating artificial intelligence, web search, and data analytics capabilities. The company recently launched the Comet browser, which features a built-in assistant designed to perform tasks on behalf of users. With around 30 million users and annual revenue of $150 million, Perplexity AI is making strides in the competitive AI landscape.

While OpenAI is strengthening its position in the U.S., Perplexity AI is quietly making inroads in India, the world’s second-largest internet and smartphone market. The startup has rapidly attracted millions of users in the region, leveraging strategic partnerships to expand its reach. On July 17, Perplexity AI announced an exclusive partnership with Bharti Airtel, one of India’s largest telecom operators. This deal offers a free annual Pro subscription, normally valued at $200, to all of Airtel’s 360 million customers. This partnership is a significant step in Perplexity AI’s global expansion strategy, which now includes agreements with more than 25 telecom operators worldwide, such as recent contracts with SoftBank in Japan and SK Telecom in South Korea.

Earlier this year, Perplexity AI partnered with Indian fintech giant Paytm, offering users access to the AI search engine through the Paytm app, which has been downloaded over 500 million times. Paytm is among the top three platforms in the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) network created by the Indian government, processing more than 1.2 billion transactions worth over 1.34 trillion Indian rupees (about $15.6 billion) each month. Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas has taken direct steps to expand the company’s presence in India. In January, he announced plans to hire a local top executive but later put the process on hold due to an “overwhelming” response. He also announced a $1 million investment and pledged to personally devote five hours per week to a group developing artificial intelligence technology in India.

Perplexity AI’s growth in India is evident in its app downloads and active user base. According to Sensor Tower, Perplexity app downloads in India grew 600% year-over-year to 2.8 million in the second quarter. In comparison, ChatGPT saw a 587% increase to 46.7 million downloads. This growth in active users confirms the overall trend. In the second quarter, the number of monthly active users (MAUs) in India grew 640% year-over-year for Perplexity. ChatGPT had a 350% growth rate in MAUs. However, the OpenAI chatbot still leads by a large margin in absolute numbers: 19.8 million active users per month compared to Perplexity’s 3.7 million.

Perplexity AI sees India as its priority market for expansion due to the country's large, active audience of tech-savvy users and the lack of localized AI startups in the search engine space. Despite its expanding user base, Perplexity AI still faces challenges in monetization. The company lags far behind ChatGPT in revenue, although both offer subscriptions at $20 per month. According to Sensor Tower, ChatGPT's revenue in the second quarter grew 731% year-over-year to $773 million, while Perplexity saw 300% growth to just $8 million in revenue.