Nvidia in Talks to Back Perplexity at a $30 Billion-Plus Valuation
Days after committing $6 billion to license Poolside's tech, Nvidia's checkbook has flipped to the Perplexity page.
Three key facts
Over $30 billion, up more than 50% in a year. The Information reported on August 23 that Nvidia is in talks to join a new Perplexity funding round that could total several billion dollars and value the company above $30 billion. Perplexity was valued at about $20 billion in its previous round roughly a year ago. No deal has been finalized.
Revenue tripled in eight months. Perplexity's annualized revenue has topped $750 million, up from under $250 million at the start of the year. Part of the growth comes from Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent that automates computer tasks for professional users, moving the company beyond being just an "AI search box."
Nvidia first pitched a different deal. Nvidia has held a stake in Perplexity since 2023. According to the report, it had at one point considered a technology licensing arrangement or hiring some of Perplexity's team rather than buying equity, before the talks shifted to an investment. Jeff Bezos is also an early Perplexity backer.
WangDou's Take
Look at the option that got dropped. Nvidia first floated the license-and-hire playbook, the exact move it just ran on Poolside. What let Perplexity trade the licensing table for the equity table was $750 million in revenue. Only a company with real cash flow gets to say "invest in me, sure, but you don't get to strip me for parts." Still, $30 billion on $750 million is 40 times sales, a multiple any traditional software company would get roasted for. And there's a subtler loop: a big chunk of every extra dollar Perplexity earns likely turns into an inference compute bill that flows straight back to Nvidia. Nvidia funds the customer, the customer buys Nvidia chips, and the faster that wheel spins, the prettier both income statements look. How much of it is genuine demand, we'll only find out when the tide goes out.
Source: The Information · U.S. News · Yahoo Finance