Nvidia discusses Perplexity investment at $30 billion-plus valuation

Nvidia is reportedly in discussions to invest in Perplexity, an AI startup, with the potential to value the company at over US$30 billion, according to The Information. This would represent a significant increase of more than 50% from Perplexity's valuation of US$20 billion reported by The Information in September. The envisioned funding round is expected to see Perplexity's annualized revenue, which has surged to over US$750 million from less than US$250 million at the start of the year, as a key factor.

Perplexity's revenue growth has been attributed to Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent utilized by professionals to automate computer-based tasks. Despite Nvidia's interest, the startup has declined to comment on the reported talks, while Nvidia has not yet responded to requests for comment. In September last year, The Information had previously reported that Perplexity had achieved a valuation of US$20 billion.

Earlier this year, Perplexity secured a US$750 million agreement with Microsoft to utilize its Azure cloud service. Perplexity plans to go public in 2028, regardless of market reception to listings of companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, as stated by the company's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, in a June interview with CNBC. Notable investors in Perplexity include Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Japan's SoftBank Group.