Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has invested in Perplexity, an AI-powered startup that aims to challenge Google’s dominance in the search engine market [1][2][3][5]. The investment was part of a funding round that raised $73.6 million, valuing Perplexity at $520 million [1][4][6].
Other investors in this round included Nvidia, Tobi Lutke, Bessemer Venture Partners, Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Guillermo Rauch, Austen Allred, Factorial Funds, and Kindred Ventures[2][6].
Founded in August 2022, Perplexity has developed a chatbot-style search engine that responds to queries using OpenAI’s GPT[2]. The company’s product, referred to as an “answer engine”, is used by about 10 million people monthly[1]. In November 2023 alone, Perplexity’s website and mobile app received 53 million visits, up from 2.2 million when the service first became available in December 2022 [2][5].
Perplexity’s search tools enable users to get instant, reliable answers to questions with sources and citations [4]. The company’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, has expressed confidence in the startup’s approach, emphasizing its ability to fine-tune various top-performing AI models [6].
The funds raised in the latest round will be used to expand the team, support further product development and customer adoption, and aid global expansion efforts[4][6].
Citations:
[1] https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/jeff-bezos-bets-on-a-google-challenger-using-ai-to-try-to-upend-internet-search-0859bda6
[2] https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/artificial-intelligence/jeff-bezos-invests-in-ai-powered-startup-can-perplexity-challenge-google/106589599
[3] https://fortune.com/2024/01/06/jeff-bezos-nvidia-funding-round-ai-search-startup-google-rival-perplexity/
[4] https://www.reuters.com/technology/perplexity-ai-valued-520-mln-funding-bezos-nvidia-2024-01-04/
[5] https://www.pymnts.com/artificial-intelligence-2/2024/bezos-invests-in-perplexity-to-take-on-google-search/
[6] https://www.businesstoday.in/entrepreneurship/start-up/story/perplexity-ai-raises-736m-in-funding-round-led-by-nvidia-bezos-now-valued-at-522m-412130-2024-01-06