Perplexity was founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas (former research scientist at OpenAI), Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski. Based in San Francisco, the company has raised over $500 million in funding and reached a valuation above $9 billion by early 2025.
Perplexity describes itself as an “answer engine” rather than a search engine. When you ask a question, it searches the web in real time, reads relevant sources, and synthesizes a direct answer with citations. It’s what many people wished Google would become — a tool that gives you the answer, not a list of blue links to click through.
The product comes in two tiers: a free version and Perplexity Pro ($20/month), which uses more powerful models and allows more queries. The platform supports multiple AI models under the hood, including their own models and offerings from partners. Perplexity also released an API for developers to build on top of their search-augmented generation capabilities.
Growth has been impressive — Perplexity processes hundreds of millions of queries and has millions of active users. The company has partnerships with SoftBank, Deutsche Telekom, and various media organizations. They’ve faced criticism from publishers concerned about AI tools summarizing their content, which is an ongoing tension in the industry. Despite that, Perplexity has found a loyal user base among people who want quick, sourced answers to factual questions without the ad-cluttered experience of traditional search.
