Nvidia is reportedly considering a fresh Nvidia Perplexity investment that could value the fast-growing artificial intelligence startup at more than $30 billion, in what would mark another significant move by the chip giant to deepen its position across the AI ecosystem.
Nvidia is in talks to buy an equity stake in AI startup Perplexity as part of a funding round that could value the company at more than $30 billion, The Information reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the talks.
The potential deal would be a big jump from Perplexity’s previous valuation of around $20 billion, which it got about a year ago. That would be more than a 50% increase in valuation for the startup if the new financing closes at the reported level.
The Nvidia Perplexity investment talks come as the AI search company experiences rapid growth in revenue. Perplexity’s revenue is said to have grown from less than $250 million at the beginning of the year to more than $750 million in annualized revenue, in part due to Perplexity Computer, an AI agent that automates tasks that professionals typically do on computers.
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Nvidia’s already an investor in Perplexity. The chipmaker was one of the investors in a funding round in January 2024 that valued the startup at about $520 million, along with Jeff Bezos and other venture firms. Some of Perplexity’s reported revenue growth has also been driven by Perplexity Computer, an AI agent designed to automate tasks normally performed on computers for professional users.
Perplexity has also garnered huge support from investors, including Jeff Bezos and Japan’s SoftBank Group. The company signed a $750 million agreement with Microsoft Azure, which will enable it to use cloud infrastructure for its fast-growing AI business and lay the groundwork for the Nvidia Perplexity investment.
The latest discussions highlight Nvidia’s broader plan to spend outside of chips as the need for AI infrastructure picks up. The company has been putting more support behind AI startups and also building its own software and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
Nvidia has not yet completed any investment in Perplexity, and the final size and terms of that investment could change. Perplexity has not publicly confirmed the reported funding talks.
