Company · Agents & apps
Perplexity revenue, valuation & funding
Perplexity was valued at $20B in its last confirmed round, in September 2025, and passed a reported $750M yearly revenue run rate in August 2026. It's a private company, and its CEO says it plans to go public in 2028.
At a glance
- Valuation: $20B at its last confirmed round, in September 2025. Nvidia was reported in August 2026 to be in talks to join a round above $30B.
- Revenue: a $750M yearly run rate in August 2026, as reported. Perplexity publishes no audited results.
- Status: private. No stock ticker. Plans an IPO in 2028.
- Founded: 2022 in San Francisco, by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho and Andy Konwinski.
- CEO: Aravind Srinivas.
- Investors: IVP, NEA, Accel, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos and SoftBank's Vision Fund, among others.
- Products: the Perplexity answer engine, the Comet browser, Computer (an agent that carries out tasks) and the Sonar API.
- On Real Alpha: 28 moments of its people talking, from 6 interviews.
Is Perplexity public? Can you buy its stock?
No. Perplexity is a private company, so its shares don't trade on any stock exchange and it has no ticker symbol. Pages that quote a "Perplexity stock price" are showing estimates from private-market trading, not an exchange price.
Aravind Srinivas told CNBC in June 2026 that the company still plans to go public in 2028, whatever happens with the OpenAI and Anthropic listings. Its chief business officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, said holding to 2028 lets it build the business first. No filing has been made.
Until then, its shares are held by its founders, staff and investors. Some change hands in private sales open only to accredited investors. This page reports facts and gives no investment advice.
Valuation, round by round
Its valuation went from $520M in January 2024 to $20B in September 2025, close to forty times in under two years.
| Date | Valued at | Raised | Led by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | $30B+ | In talks | — | Reuters |
| Sep 2025 | $20B | $200M | — | PYMNTS |
| Jul 2025 | $18B | $100M | — | YourStory |
| May 2025 | $14B | $500M | Accel | YourStory |
| Dec 2024 | $9B | $500M | IVP | Bloomberg |
| Jan 2024 | $520M | $73.6M | IVP | Cointelegraph |
A January 2026 round at about $23B is cited by several sites, and Tracxn lists $22.6B as of January 9, 2026, but we found no primary report of it, so it isn't counted as confirmed.
Revenue
Perplexity doesn't publish results. Reporters put its yearly run rate at about $200M in September 2025 and $750M by August 2026, more than tripling in a year.
| Date | Figure | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | $750M | Reported | The Information, via Reuters |
| Mar 2026 | $450M+ | Reported | Financial Times |
| Dec 2025 | $232M | Estimate | Sacra |
| Sep 2025 | about $200M | Reported | TechCrunch, via PYMNTS |
A run rate is a month's revenue times twelve. It isn't a year's audited revenue.
How Perplexity makes money
Subscriptions are the core of the business. The answer engine is free to use, and paid plans run from $20 a month (Pro) to $200 a month (Max), with Enterprise plans for companies.
- Usage-based agent work. Computer, launched in February 2026, runs on credits: Max includes 10,000 a month and heavier tasks use more. Sacra ties most of 2026's growth to it. Perplexity on X
- Developers. The Sonar API sells its search-grounded answers to other apps. Perplexity docs
- No ads. It began testing ads in late 2024 and dropped them in 2026, saying users need to trust that an answer is the best one. MacRumors, citing the FT
- Publishers get a cut. Comet Plus costs $5 a month, and 80% of that revenue goes to publishers, from a $42.5M pool. Axios, Aug 2025
- Built into phones. A deal to preload its assistant on Motorola phones was reported in April 2025, alongside talks with Samsung. Bloomberg, via The Star
From Perplexity's interviews
- 43:49 Perplexity reports positive gross margins on every revenue streamAravind Srinivas · All-In · Mar 2026
- 27:33 Perplexity sees subscriptions and task fees as revenue streamsAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Jul 2025
- 27:18 Search needs to help people complete the task, not just find answersAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Feb 2025
Products
- Perplexity, the answer engine (launched December 2022). It searches the web for each question and answers with the sources it used.
- Comet (July 2025). A web browser with the assistant built in, which can act on pages for you. It launched for Max subscribers and became free for everyone later in 2025. The Arabian Post
- Computer (February 25, 2026). An agent that splits a task among sub-agents and models and carries it out, priced by usage. It opened on Max first and later reached Pro. Perplexity on X
- Sonar API. Its search and answer models for developers.
From Perplexity's interviews
- 17:01 A browser can turn an assistant into an agentAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Jul 2025
- 23:53 Browser agents can work even when sites lack MCP serversAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Jul 2025
- 6:33 Perplexity's first product turned Twitter into a queryable databaseAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Feb 2025
Users and usage
The last number from the company itself: Aravind Srinivas said Perplexity served 780 million queries in May 2025 (Search Engine Land).
It hasn't published a user count since. Outside estimates of monthly users run from about 30 million to more than 100 million, and the higher ones count every product together, so we don't pick one.
From Perplexity's interviews
- 9:08 700,000 New Year's Eve queries convinced Srinivas Perplexity was realAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Jul 2025
- 22:11 Perplexity reviews query growth weekly and routes bugs directlyAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Feb 2025
Leadership
- Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO. He did research at OpenAI and Google DeepMind before starting Perplexity.
- Denis Yarats, co-founder and CTO.
- Johnny Ho, co-founder and chief strategy officer.
- Andy Konwinski, co-founder and president. He also co-founded Databricks.
- Dmitry Shevelenko, chief business officer. CNBC
Who owns Perplexity?
Its founders, staff and investors. As a private company it doesn't publish who holds what, and no stake has been disclosed.
Competitors
Perplexity doesn't train its own frontier model. It routes each question to models from several labs, which Aravind Srinivas calls its edge over companies tied to one model.
- Google, with AI answers in Search and Gemini.
- OpenAI, with search in ChatGPT and its own browser.
- Microsoft, with Copilot.
- Anthropic, with web search in Claude.
- Yahoo, with Scout, which answers from Yahoo's own data.
What its people said about the competition
- 11:27 Google’s incentives leave room for search startupsAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Jul 2025
- 31:02 Google's ad economics could constrain its move into AI searchAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Feb 2025
- 46:49 Perplexity's model-neutral strategy benefits from specializationAravind Srinivas · All-In · Mar 2026
- 16:17 Perplexity saw room after Bing Chat and Bard launchedAravind Srinivas · Lightcone · Feb 2025
Timeline and latest news
From its founding to the latest reports, newest first.
- Aug 2026Latest
Its yearly run rate reached a reported $750M, and Nvidia was reported in talks to invest at a valuation above $30B. Reuters - Aug 4, 2026Latest
An appeals court threw out the order that had blocked Comet's shopping agent on Amazon. Knight Institute - Jun 9, 2026Latest
Aravind Srinivas told CNBC it still plans to go public in 2028. CNBC - Mar 2026
Its run rate passed $450M, according to the Financial Times. Financial Times - Feb 2026
Launched Computer, its agent for multi-step tasks, and dropped advertising. MacRumors - Nov 2025
Amazon sued over Comet's agent shopping on Amazon for users. Knight Institute - Sep 2025
Raised $200M at a $20B valuation. PYMNTS - Aug 12, 2025
Offered $34.5B in cash for Google's Chrome, unasked. Google hadn't put it up for sale. Axios - Aug 2025
Launched Comet Plus, giving publishers 80% of its revenue. Axios - Jul 2025
Launched the Comet browser for Max subscribers. The Arabian Post - May 2025
Aravind Srinivas said it served 780 million queries that month. Search Engine Land - Dec 2024
Raised $500M at a $9B valuation, led by IVP. Bloomberg - Oct 2024
Dow Jones and the New York Post sued over copyright. AI Lawsuit Tracker - Jan 2024
Raised $73.6M at a $520M valuation, led by IVP. Cointelegraph - Dec 2022
Launched the Perplexity answer engine. Wikipedia - Aug 2022
Founded in San Francisco. Wikipedia
Legal matters
Publishers and platforms have sued Perplexity over how it gets and uses content. As of October 2026 none of the cases had been settled or decided on the core claims.
- Dow Jones and the New York Post (filed October 2024, New York). Copyright claims over articles used in answers. The court refused to dismiss the case or move it to California, and a pretrial conference is set for December 14, 2026. AI Lawsuit Tracker
- Amazon (filed November 2025). Amazon objected to Comet's agent shopping on its site for users. On August 4, 2026 the Ninth Circuit threw out the order that had blocked the agent, finding that the user, not Perplexity, was the one using Amazon. Knight Institute
- Reddit (filed October 2025). Claims that Perplexity got around Reddit's blocks on scraping. In July 2026 most of the claims survived a motion to dismiss. Perplexity denies training on Reddit's data. AI Lawsuit Tracker
- Other publishers. The Chicago Tribune and CNN have sued in the US, and Yomiuri, Nikkei and Asahi in Japan.
- Privacy. One class action over shared chats was withdrawn on May 1, 2026. A second, from paying subscribers, is at the motion stage. Settlement Insight
In their own words, and what followed
What people said about the business, with the minute they said it, and what was reported after.
Aravind Srinivas on All-In · Mar 23, 2026
“every revenue perplexity makes has positive gross margins”
43:49 Perplexity reports positive gross margins on every revenue stream
Reported after
Its run rate passed $450M that month. Perplexity publishes no audited results, and The Information has reported its growth comes at a high cost. The Information
Aravind Srinivas on Lightcone · Jul 11, 2025
“usage based pricing where people are paying an agent for completing a task”
27:33 Perplexity sees subscriptions and task fees as revenue streams
Reported after
Computer, sold on usage-based credits, launched in February 2026. The run rate went from about $232M at the end of 2025 to $750M by August. Perplexity on X
Aravind Srinivas on Lightcone · Jul 11, 2025
“being your scout, you know, going and doing all the research for you”
17:01 A browser can turn an assistant into an agent
Reported after
Comet became free for everyone later in 2025. In November Amazon sued over its agent shopping for users, and in August 2026 an appeals court sided with Perplexity on the injunction. Knight Institute
Chamath Palihapitiya on All-In · Jul 11, 2025
“I think building a browser is an absolutely stupid capital allocation decision.”
46:22 AI browsers may be a costly detour from better products
Reported after
Perplexity launched Comet that week. A month later it offered $34.5B for Google's Chrome. Axios, Aug 2025
What others say about Perplexity
Moments where people outside the company talk about it.
Jim Lanzone · Sourcery · Oct 19, 2026
“Perplexity is not its own large language model.”
David Friedberg · All-In · May 15, 2026
“simply by buying something like Perplexity or Mistral or some AI lab”
52:37 Google could turn personal data into an AI assistant advantage 4 min
Andrej Karpathy · Lightcone · Jun 19, 2025
18:14 Build AI apps around human review and adjustable autonomy 6 min
Alexandr Wang · Minus One · Dec 13, 2024
“none of the other products are as good as perplexity”
42:08 AI startups can win by focusing where giants cannot 3 min
Questions people ask
Is Perplexity a public company? Can I buy Perplexity stock?
No. Perplexity is private and has no ticker, so its shares aren't sold on any exchange. It plans to go public in 2028.
When will Perplexity IPO?
Its CEO told CNBC in June 2026 that it plans to go public in 2028. It hasn't filed.
Who owns Perplexity?
Its founders, staff and investors, including IVP, NEA, Accel, Nvidia, Jeff Bezos and SoftBank's Vision Fund. Stakes haven't been disclosed.
Who is the CEO of Perplexity?
Aravind Srinivas, who co-founded it in 2022 after research roles at OpenAI and Google DeepMind.
Who founded Perplexity?
Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho and Andy Konwinski, in 2022.
How much is Perplexity worth?
$20B at its last confirmed round, in September 2025. Nvidia was reported in August 2026 to be in talks to join a round above $30B; no close has been announced.
How much revenue does Perplexity make?
A reported $750M yearly run rate in August 2026, up from about $200M in September 2025.
Is Perplexity profitable?
It doesn't publish results. Aravind Srinivas said in March 2026 that every revenue stream has positive gross margins, which isn't the same as a profit, and The Information has reported that its growth comes at a high cost. 43:49
How does Perplexity make money?
Mostly subscriptions, $20 to $200 a month, plus Enterprise plans, usage-based credits for its Computer agent, and its API. It stopped selling ads in 2026.
How many people use Perplexity?
It served 780 million queries in May 2025, the last figure from the company. Outside estimates of monthly users vary widely.
Where is Perplexity headquartered?
San Francisco.
Who are Perplexity's competitors?
Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and Anthropic, each with AI search of its own, and Yahoo's Scout.
Every moment from Perplexity's people
28 moments from 6 interviews on 5 shows, newest first. Each one plays from the minute it starts.
Sourcery · Oct 12, 2026 · 3 moments
Perplexity CEO: SMBs Could Drive the Next Economic Boom
The Joe Rogan Experience · Jul 1, 2026 · 7 moments
Joe Rogan Experience #2521 - Aravind Srinivas
- 1:08:35 AI demand outpaced forecasts for compute, chips and power 8 min
- 1:42:46 Local AI could give users more control over information 7 min
- 2:21:03 Self-improving AI still faces messy real-world systems 4 min
- 1:35:35 America makes it possible to fund another startup after failure 5 min
- 2:15:16 AI dividends won't replace the work of modernizing institutions 5 min
- 1:20:33 Schools can teach students to ask questions AI cannot answer 5 min
- 1:53:23 Engagement-based feeds bury controls that would end sessions 3 min
All-In · Mar 23, 2026 · 2 moments
Four CEOs on the Future of AI: CoreWeave, Perplexity, Mistral, and IREN
Silicon Valley Girl · Sep 26, 2025 · 2 moments
$20B AI CEO: The ONLY trait for success in the AI era | Aravind Srinivas, Co-founder of Perplexity
Show 2 more interviews
Lightcone · Jul 11, 2025 · 6 moments
Aravind Srinivas: Perplexity's Race to Build Agentic Search
- 11:27 Google’s incentives leave room for search startups 3 min
- 17:01 A browser can turn an assistant into an agent 3 min
- 27:33 Perplexity sees subscriptions and task fees as revenue streams 2 min
- 19:48 AI coding tools cut some experiments from days to an hour 3 min
- 23:53 Browser agents can work even when sites lack MCP servers 4 min
- 9:08 700,000 New Year's Eve queries convinced Srinivas Perplexity was real 2 min
Lightcone · Feb 21, 2025 · 8 moments
How To Build The Future: Aravind Srinivas
- 10:32 A simpler search system worked as language models improved 3 min
- 27:18 Search needs to help people complete the task, not just find answers 4 min
- 19:00 Treat ambiguity as a product problem, not a user failure 2 min
- 3:43 LLMs could improve search with query-specific filters 3 min
- 6:33 Perplexity's first product turned Twitter into a queryable database 3 min
- 16:17 Perplexity saw room after Bing Chat and Bard launched 3 min
- 22:11 Perplexity reviews query growth weekly and routes bugs directly 3 min
- 31:02 Google's ad economics could constrain its move into AI search 3 min
People on Real Alpha
- Aravind Srinivas, Co-founder & CEO, Perplexity · 28 moments
- Denis Yarats, Co-founder & CTO, Perplexity
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How this page is sourced
Each figure links to the filing, company statement or news report it came from, with its date. Run rates are what reporters were told, not audited results; estimates and unconfirmed reports are marked. Quotes are what each person said on the record, with the minute they said it. Spotted something that's off? .
Last checked Nov 6, 2026