Perplexity reportedly seeking new funding on $20B valuation one month after $100 million raise

Artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity AI Inc. is reported to be seeking to raise new funding on a $20 billion valuation, a month after the company last raised $100 million on an $18 billion valuation.

Business Insider, referencing an email sent to prospective investors and a source with knowledge of the raise, reports that there is no indication as yet as to who will lead the latest funding round. There is also no indication as to why Perplexity needs to raise more money, given it only just closed its last funding round.

While details of the reasoning behind raising more money may be scant, what is clear is that Perplexity does have large ambitions and one of those ambitions is apparently to buy a web browser.

It was reported yesterday that Perplexity had offered to acquire Google LLC’s Chrome web browser for $34.5 billion in cash, despite the browser not currently being for sale and the company not having that sort of money to spend. However, Perplexity claimed that several investors, including “large venture-capital funds,” have agreed to back the transaction in full if it were to proceed.

While described by some as a publicity stunt by Perplexity, there is a possibility that Google may be forced to divest Chrome as part of an antitrust action from the U.S. government over its stranglehold on web search. Last year, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in the search text advertising markets and U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has been deciding whether to force Google to sell Chrome.

But Chrome apparently isn’t the only web browser that Perplexity has had its eyes on. The Information reports that since the end of last year, executives at Perplexity have communicated with leaders of The Browser Co. (the company behind the Dia browser) and Brave Software Inc. about potentially buying either of the companies.

The same report also claims that Perplexity has discussed their interest in acquiring browsers with the chief executive officer of privacy-focused search provider DuckDuckGo Inc.

Perplexity does, however, already have a browser, in the form of Comet, which was released in July. The AI-enabled browser is only available to Perplexity Max subscribers, a $200 per month premium tier and provides early access to new features, priority support and advanced AI capabilities designed to integrate directly into the browsing experience.

Whatever plans Perplexity has for its planned new funding round, what is clear is that the company knows the best way to get in front of a large audience is to have a browser where Perplexity becomes the default option for search in place of Google.

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