Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence search company, is discussing raising $500 million, which could bring its valuation to $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal said Sunday.
Should the investment round prove successful, The Wall Street Journal notes that this marks the company's fourth in the last year.
The company was founded two years ago and saw its valuation rise from $520 million in January to $3 billion by the summer. Perplexity's efforts to secure additional funding follow OpenAI's recent fundraising, which raised $6.6 billion.
Perplexity, backed by Jeff Bezos, generates revenue from premium subscriptions and recently introduced an enterprise version to help companies search internal files.
The report says the company handles about 15 million daily search queries. Perplexity has faced criticism from several publishers, including The New York Times, which issued a cease-and-desist letter alleging the company used its content without permission.
Perplexity's Chief Executive Aravind Srinivas said the company does not intend to ignore the concerns of The New York Times and hopes to maintain positive relations with publishers, The Wall Street Journal reported.
