# Perplexity AI

> Perplexity AI is a San Francisco-based AI company that built the world's leading 'answer engine' ? replacing traditional link-based search with real-time, AI-generated responses that cite their sources. Founded in August 2022 by four AI researchers from OpenAI, Meta, Databricks, and Quora, Perplexity has grown from a scrappy post-ChatGPT prototype to a $20B+ company with 45 million monthly active users, over $1.7B in total funding, and a product suite spanning a conversational search engine, a developer API platform, and the Comet AI browser.

- **Founded:** 2022
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founders:** Aravind Srinivas (CEO & Co-Founder), Denis Yarats (CTO & Co-Founder), Andy Konwinski (Co-Founder), Johnny Ho (Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder)
- **Team size:** ~1,400?1,500 employees by early 2026 (up from ~52 in 2024; ~290% YoY growth)
- **Products:** Perplexity Search Engine, Sonar API, Perplexity Assistant, Comet Browser, Shopping Hub
- **Notable:** Launched a public product just seven days after ChatGPT debuted in December 2022, Reached unicorn status ($1B+ valuation) in April 2024, Grew from 2 million monthly visitors (March 2023) to 45 million+ MAUs (early 2026)

## Products & services

- **Perplexity Search Engine** — Core product: an AI-powered answer engine with real-time web search, cited sources, and conversational follow-up questions. Available free with a Pro tier.
- **Sonar API** — Proprietary real-time search model built on Meta's Llama, available to developers via API for embedding AI search into applications.
- **Perplexity Assistant** — Multi-modal AI assistant launched January 2025 for deeper task automation and personalized help.
- **Comet Browser** — AI-powered web browser with a built-in sidecar assistant. Launched July 2025, made free worldwide October 2025, available on Android (November 2025) and iOS (March 2026).
- **Shopping Hub** — E-commerce product recommendations feature integrated into search results, launched November 2024.
- **Finance Tools** — Stock research and financial data features integrated into search, launched October 2024.
- **Model Council** — Feature allowing users to compare outputs from multiple frontier LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI) side-by-side, launched February 2026.
- **Embeddings API** — Developer API for semantic search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) workflows.

## Achievements

- Launched a public product just seven days after ChatGPT debuted in December 2022
- Reached unicorn status ($1B+ valuation) in April 2024
- Grew from 2 million monthly visitors (March 2023) to 45 million+ MAUs (early 2026)
- Raised over $1.7 billion in total funding from 49+ investors
- Reached ~$200M ARR by early 2026, more than doubling in roughly one year
- Valuation reached $20B+ by September 2025
- Built Comet, a full AI-native web browser, and shipped it on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS within a single year
- Secured telecom distribution deals with SoftBank, Airtel, Deutsche Telekom, and SK Telecom
- Committed $750M to Microsoft Azure infrastructure in January 2026
- Attracted investors including Jeff Bezos, NVIDIA, SoftBank, Accel, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andrej Karpathy, Yann LeCun, and Ashish Vaswani

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Comet AI browser released on iOS (March 18, 2026), completing its full mobile rollout.
- **2026-02** — Pivoted to subscription-first model, discontinuing AI-integrated advertising. Launched Model Council for multi-LLM comparison. Extended free Pro access to students, military veterans, and government employees. ARR reported at ~$200M.
- **2026-01** — Committed $750M to Microsoft Azure infrastructure. Valuation estimated at $21?22.6B.
- **2025-12** — Cristiano Ronaldo invested; CR7 brand integration announced.
- **2025-11** — Comet browser released on Android. 780 million queries/month (~30M/day).
- **2025-10** — Comet browser made free worldwide. Background AI assistant launched for Max subscribers.
- **2025-09** — Raised $200M at $20B valuation in Series E extension.
- **2025-08** — Made unsolicited $34.5B offer to acquire Google Chrome amid DOJ antitrust proceedings against Google.
- **2025-07** — Comet browser launched for Windows and macOS for Max subscribers. Raised $100M extension.
- **2025-06** — Raised $500M Series E at $14B valuation led by Accel. Airtel partnership drives 640% YoY Indian user growth.
- **2025-01** — Launched Perplexity Assistant (multi-modal). Submitted formal merger proposal for TikTok US on eve of US ban.

## Links

- Website: https://www.perplexity.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/perplexity-ai
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/perplexity_ai
- GitHub: https://github.com/perplexityai
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perplexity/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/perplexity-ai
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-01