Perplexity
San Francisco, California, United States · Founded 2022
501-1000 employees · $1.72B+
AI-powered answer engine and emerging search competitor to Google. Founded 2022 by Aravind Srinivas (CEO, ex-OpenAI/DeepMind), Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski. ~$1.72B raised, ~$22.6B valuation as of Jan 2026. Launched ad platform Nov 2024 (Sponsored Questions w/ Criteo, Indeed, WPP); abandoned advertising program Feb 2026 citing trust concerns. AdTech relevance: canonical answer-engine target for GEO/AI visibility optimization, browser-layer disruption via Comet, and the industry's reference case for 'AI search + ads = trust collapse'.
Where they sit
Stack tier: Ecosystem Services (A)
Leading AI answer-engine challenger to Google search; among top-tier AI labs alongside OpenAI/Anthropic on AI-search use cases
Ownership
Subsidiaries