AI startup Perplexity has secured commitments from investors for $200 million in new funding at a $20 billion valuation, the Information reported on Wednesday, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify this report and Perplexity did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Run by Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity in August made a $34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet’s Chrome browser, a bid far above its own valuation.
The Nvidia-backed startup has an AI browser, Comet, that can perform certain tasks on a user’s behalf. Buying Chrome would have allowed it to tap the browser’s more than three billion users, giving it the heft to better compete with bigger rivals such as OpenAI, which is also working on its own AI browser.
