'Bezos Investment' Perplexity Aims to Raise Funds Targeting 11 Trillion KRW Valuation

AI search startup Perplexity has begun negotiations to raise funds with a target valuation of $8 billion (approximately 10.9384 trillion KRW), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 20th (local time).

According to sources, Perplexity plans to raise about $500 million (approximately 683.7 billion KRW) in this funding round. Terms may change, and the funding may not be completed.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Perplexity's valuation was $520 million (approximately 710.9 billion KRW) in January and rose to $3 billion (approximately 4.1016 trillion KRW) this summer. If it is recognized at $8 billion this time, its value will have more than doubled in a few months.

Perplexity raised funds three times last year. WSJ evaluated that four funding rounds in one year is an unusually fast pace even by Silicon Valley standards. It also stated that Perplexity's rapid increase in valuation shows how strong investors' desire is to invest in AI startups expected to lead the market. Recently, OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, was valued at $157 billion (approximately 214.7132 trillion KRW) and raised $6.6 billion (approximately 9.0262 trillion KRW).

Perplexity is a startup known for combining a search engine and AI chatbot service, having received investments from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Nvidia, Samsung Electronics, and others. It searches for the latest information like Google and provides answers to questions like ChatGPT. Currently, it generates revenue by selling premium subscription services, recently launched a version for corporate clients, and plans to start selling advertisements. As of March, its annual revenue exceeded $10 million (approximately 1.37 billion KRW). WSJ cited sources estimating that based on recent sales, annual revenue for the next 12 months will reach $50 million (approximately 6.84 billion KRW), with about 15 million daily searches on the consumer search engine.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.