According to TechCrunch, Perplexity AI's latest major fundraising campaign could quickly be followed by one other, even larger block of capital. Yes, the $62.7 million the startup raised at a valuation of just over $1 billion could quickly be boosted by a capital raise of as much as $250 million at as much as $2.5 million. as much as 3 times higher rating.
What's up? Rapid revenue growth for the corporate, which has reportedly reached roughly $20 million in annual recurring revenue. Sure, at $1 billion that's a 50x revenue multiple, but when the corporate grows fast enough, paying as much as 150x its current ARR won’t be as crazy because it looks on paper , even when bets were made at similar prices back within the 2021 era often had problems.
The Perplexity hype is an enormous deal since it shows that some startups are doing well enough to draw outsized enterprise investment. Good. A priority I've had for a while is that the AI ​​boom would find yourself merely enriching incumbents and never spawning enough startups to create a brand new class of tech giants; I consider that a everlasting class of technology gods shouldn’t be the perfect option to drive long-term innovation. And I believe search typically is a superb indication of what happens when tech giants fail to compete meaningfully with each other.
The news from Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Adobe within the AI ​​space this week felt like a reminder that Big Tech will attempt to seize the AI ​​moment. Perplexity to distort Star Wars might be one in all our greatest hopes to avoid Microsoft or Alphabet increasing their market capitalization again. Click play, let's chat!
