Artificial intelligence (AI) search startup Perplexity AI has reportedly secured $200 million in new funding.
The new funding values the company at $20 billion, according to multiple media accounts late Wednesday (Sept 10). The company’s financing was initially reported by The Information, which cited sources familiar with the matter.
That report noted that Perplexity has raised funds approximately once every two months in the last year, with its total funding exceeding $1 billion.
Perplexity was valued at $14 billion following a funding round in March, with its valuation jumping to $18 billion after it raised another $100 million in July.
This latest funding happened in the wake of Perplexity’s bid last month to purchase Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion, a move that would have allowed its Comet browser to better compete with the likes of OpenAI.
The company’s offer came after the Justice Department proposed that Google sell Chrome as a remedy in its antitrust case. A federal judge recently ruled that Google did not need to break up its search business, meaning it will keep Chrome.
The rise of AI-driven search tools like Perplexity’s, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews, has birthed the concept of generative engine optimization, or GEO. As PYMNTS wrote last week, this is the emerging discipline of making a brand remain visible in searches.
“Businesses now face a two-front battle: keep their place in traditional search while ensuring AI systems recognize and cite them as authoritative answers,” that report said. “Whether one calls it SEO, GEO, or simply good content, the playbook for staying visible is changing fast, and the cost of sitting out is invisibility.”
As companies watch their click-through rates decline, they have no choice but to embrace an era where AI offers up complete answers to user queries, the report added.
“AI search isn’t coming, it’s already reshaping the web,” Rich Pleeth, former Google marketing executive who is now co-founder and CEO of Finmile, said in an interview with PYMNTS.
“Traditional SEO was about keywords and backlinks. But with AI search engines like ChatGPT and Gemini, discoverability is now about authority, clarity and context. It’s not just about ranking, it’s about being the answer.”
He added that this means online businesses must “rethink their entire content strategy: Speak like a human, show domain expertise, and design for machine readability.”
Source: https://www.pymnts.com/