Nvidia in talks to invest in Perplexity at $30 billion valuation as revenue tops $750 million

Nvidia is in talks to invest in Perplexity as part of a new funding round that could value the AI search startup at more than $30 billion, a huge jump from its $20 billion valuation just a year ago.

The Information reported Sunday that Nvidia is discussing joining an equity round worth billions of dollars, citing people familiar with the talks. Perplexity declined to comment on the report, and Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Nvidia is discussing investing in Perplexity as part of an equity round that would value the AI startup at more than $30 billion,” The Information reported,  citing people with knowledge of the discussion.

The valuation alone would make this a significant AI funding story. The more striking number may be what is happening underneath it: Perplexity’s annualized revenue has climbed above $750 million, up from less than $250 million at the start of 2026.

That means the startup has roughly tripled its revenue run rate in less than a year, giving investors something more concrete than the soaring valuations that have defined much of the AI funding boom.

Perplexity is becoming more than an AI search company

Perplexity built its name as an AI-powered “answer engine,” offering direct responses to questions backed by links and citations rather than the familiar page of blue links. Founded in 2022 by former Google and OpenAI engineers, the San Francisco startup quickly emerged as one of the most closely watched challengers to traditional search.

Its ambitions have since moved well beyond answering questions.

Part of Perplexity’s recent growth has come from Perplexity Computer, its cloud-based AI agent that lets professionals automate computer tasks, according to The Information. That shift matters. Search brought Perplexity millions of users and put the company on the map. AI agents could give it a much larger commercial market.

The numbers suggest that strategy is already gaining traction.

In April, TechStartups reported that Perplexity’s annualized recurring revenue had passed $450 million in March, up 50% in a single month, based on figures first reported by the Financial Times. The latest figure above $750 million means the company’s revenue run rate has added another $300 million since then.

Nvidia’s interest would deepen a relationship that already runs through Perplexity’s cap table. The chipmaker is an existing investor, alongside backers that include Jeff Bezos, SoftBank Group, IVP and New Enterprise Associates. Perplexity has raised more than $1.5 billion to date.

The startup is also broadening its infrastructure relationships. Bloomberg reported earlier this year that Perplexity signed a $750 million agreement with Microsoft to use Azure cloud services.

The proposed funding round comes roughly a year after The Information reported that Perplexity finalized financing at a $20 billion valuation in September 2025. A deal above $30 billion would represent more than a 50% increase in about a year.

That price looks different next to Perplexity’s revenue trajectory. At a $30 billion valuation and a $750 million annualized revenue run rate, investors would be valuing the company at roughly 40 times current annualized revenue. That is still a rich multiple, but Perplexity is entering talks with revenue growth few private technology companies can match.

There may be an eventual public-market test for that valuation. CEO Aravind Srinivas told CNBC in June that Perplexity plans to go public in 2028, regardless of how investors receive potential listings from Anthropic and OpenAI.

For now, the reported Nvidia talks offer another sign of how Perplexity’s story is changing. The company that started out trying to rethink Google Search is increasingly betting that AI agents, enterprise workloads and automated computer tasks can become a much bigger business.

If the $30 billion-plus round gets done, investors will be placing a very expensive bet that its extraordinary revenue growth has much further to run.

Perplexity Founder and CEO