Perplexity Secures $100 Million at $18 Billion Valuation, Eyes Indian Market

AI startup Perplexity has raised $100 million, valuing the company at $18 billion. Since May 2025, the company’s valuation has increased by $4 billion, according to Bloomberg.

The deal follows a previous funding round, with new investors showing interest at a higher valuation.

Perplexity, an AI search engine, competes with Google by combining artificial intelligence, web search, and data analysis capabilities. The company recently launched the Comet browser, featuring an integrated assistant capable of performing tasks on behalf of users.

Perplexity serves approximately 30 million users and reports an annual revenue of $150 million.

Focus on India

While OpenAI strengthens its position in the US, Perplexity is quietly making inroads in India. The startup is rapidly attracting millions of users in the world’s second-largest internet and smartphone market.

On July 17, the firm partnered with Bharti Airtel, one of the largest telecom operators in the country. It offered a free one-year Pro subscription worth $200 to all of the telecom operator’s 360 million customers.

The deal is exclusive—no other company can offer a similar service.

This new partnership is one of Perplexity’s most significant steps in its global expansion strategy, which includes agreements with over 25 telecom operators worldwide. Recently announced contracts include those with SoftBank in Japan and SK Telecom in South Korea.

Earlier this year, Perplexity signed an agreement with Indian fintech giant Paytm, offering access to its AI search engine through the Paytm app, which has been downloaded over 500 million times. It ranks among the top three in the Unified Payment Interface network created by the Indian government, processing over 1.2 billion transactions monthly, amounting to more than 1.34 trillion Indian rupees (approximately $15.6 billion).

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has taken direct steps to expand the company’s presence in the world’s most populous country. In January, he announced plans to hire a local top manager but later paused the process, overwhelmed by the “huge” number of applications. The top manager also announced a $1 million investment and promised to personally dedicate five hours a week to a group developing AI technologies in India.

Clear Progress

According to Sensor Tower, in the second quarter, downloads of the Perplexity app in India increased by 600% compared to the previous year, reaching 2.8 million. In comparison, ChatGPT saw a 587% increase, reaching 46.7 million.

The growth in active users confirms the overall trend. In the second quarter, the number of MAU in India grew by 640% year-on-year.

ChatGPT’s growth was 350%. However, OpenAI’s chatbot still significantly leads in absolute numbers: 19.8 million active users per month compared to Perplexity’s 3.7 million.

Why India?

TechCrunch noted that Perplexity views India as a priority market for expansion. The country has few local AI startups, especially in the search engine sector, yet it boasts a large and active audience of tech-savvy users.

Despite its broad audience, Perplexity still faces challenges in monetization. In terms of revenue, the company significantly lags behind ChatGPT, although both offer a $20 monthly subscription.

According to Sensor Tower, ChatGPT’s revenue from purchases in the second quarter grew by 731% year-on-year, reaching $773 million, while Perplexity’s growth was 300%, with revenue of only $8 million.

Back in July, Coinbase announced a partnership with AI startup Perplexity. The collaboration aims to provide traders with access to verified data and up-to-date information on the crypto market.