AI-powered search engine Perplexity has allegedly closed a $500 million funding round, valuing the startup at $9 billion.
Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar, that the round was led by Institutional Venture Partners and closed in early December. In an email to TechCrunch, a Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment.
The mammoth tranche comes at a time when competition in AI-powered search is heating up. OpenAI recently launched ChatGPT Search, its answer to Perplexity. And Google is developing features that rival a few of Perplexity's offerings, including AI-generated summaries and answers on search results pages.
This week, The Information reported that Google is planning to take a more aggressive step and potentially construct a chatbot-like “AI mode” directly into Google Search.
Perplexity isn't resting on its laurels – whilst the corporate wages a category motion lawsuit alleging copyright infringement. On Wednesday, the corporate made its first acquisition, acquiring startup Carbon, which makes a speciality of connecting AI systems with external data sources.
