Nvidia is discussing a fresh investment in Perplexity that could value the AI search startup at more than $30 billion. Here is what is actually confirmed and what is not.
Is the news true?
The core report checks out as far as sourcing goes. The Information first broke the story on August 23, 2026, citing people familiar with the discussions. Reuters covered the same story that day but explicitly noted it could not independently verify the claim. Other outlets, including Benzinga and Seeking Alpha, have since run their own versions, all crediting The Information as the original source rather than confirming it independently.
Neither Nvidia nor Perplexity has confirmed anything publicly, and both declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. The $30 billion figure and the terms of any investment come from anonymous sourcing in a single original report, amplified but not independently corroborated by other outlets.
The valuation jump
If the round closes as reported, it would value Perplexity above $30 billion, more than 50% higher than its previous round. That prior round closed in September 2025, when Perplexity raised $200 million at a $20 billion valuation. This earlier figure is on firmer footing since it shows up in funding trackers like CB Insights and was reported at the time through named sources.
Perplexity’s valuation history, based on prior public reporting at each stage:
- January 2024: $73.6 million raised at a $520 million valuation, with Nvidia and Jeff Bezos among the investors
- March to April 2024: roughly $1 billion valuation, crossing unicorn status
- June 2024: $3 billion, following a SoftBank Vision Fund 2 investment
- December 2024: $9 billion
- September 2025: $20 billion, on $200 million raised
Why now: the revenue story
The valuation talk is being driven largely by reported revenue growth. According to The Information, Perplexity’s annualized revenue has climbed above $750 million, up from under $250 million at the start of 2026. This specific figure is anonymously sourced and has not been confirmed by Perplexity, so it should be read as reported rather than verified.
Much of that growth is attributed to Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent built to automate computer-based tasks for professional users, reflecting a broader shift in the company’s business from consumer search toward agentic AI tools aimed at enterprises.
Nvidia’s relationship with Perplexity
Nvidia has backed Perplexity since its January 2024 Series B and returned for the 2024 unicorn round, both of which are part of the public funding record. Reports also state that before the current equity talks, Nvidia had explored a licensing deal with Perplexity or hiring some of its team, though I was not able to independently verify this detail beyond the original reporting.
I want to flag one thing directly: an earlier draft of this piece stated that Perplexity had committed to running its AI agent workloads on Nvidia’s Vera CPUs. I could not find a source for that claim anywhere, including in Nvidia’s own materials on Vera CPU deployment partners, which list companies like Alibaba, ByteDance, Meta, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, CoreWeave, Lambda, Nebius, and Nscale, none of which is Perplexity. That claim has been removed rather than repeated on the strength of an assumption.
Perplexity’s other backers and deals
Perplexity’s investor base includes Jeff Bezos and Japan’s SoftBank Group, both confirmed through earlier funding announcements. Perplexity also reportedly signed a $750 million cloud infrastructure agreement with Microsoft Azure earlier in 2026.
The IPO timeline
In a June 2026 interview, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said the company plans to pursue an IPO in 2028, regardless of how OpenAI’s or Anthropic’s public listings play out. This is a direct, on-the-record statement from Srinivas, not an anonymous claim, so it carries more weight than the valuation and revenue figures above.
Bottom line
This is a reported deal in discussion, not a confirmed transaction. The $30 billion valuation and the $750 million revenue figure both trace back to a single anonymously sourced report that other outlets have repeated without independent verification. The funding history through September 2025, the Microsoft Azure deal, and Srinivas’s IPO comments are on firmer ground since they were reported through named sources or direct statements at the time. Treat the newest numbers as what is currently being discussed, not as established fact, until one of the two companies confirms them.
This piece draws on reporting from The Information, Reuters, Benzinga, and Seeking Alpha, as of August 25 to 26, 2026. Figures and deal terms are subject to change as negotiations continue.
