Nvidia in talks to back Perplexity at $30 billion valuation

Nvidia is negotiating a stake in Perplexity that would value the AI search startup at more than $30 billion, a 50 percent jump from its last round.

Nvidia is in talks to invest in Perplexity at a valuation above $30 billion, more than 50 percent higher than the AI search startup's last financing round, as the chipmaker extends its reach across the AI stack.

The Information reported the discussions Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the talks, with the funding round expected to be worth billions of dollars. Neither company has confirmed the deal.

Perplexity's annualized revenue has climbed past $750 million, up from less than $250 million at the start of 2026, with growth driven partly by Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent that automates computer tasks for professionals. The startup's previous round valued it at roughly $20 billion.

The investment would deepen a relationship that already runs both ways. Perplexity committed in July to use Nvidia's Vera CPUs for its AI agent workloads, and Nvidia has backed the startup since its early days. For the chipmaker, the deal fits a pattern of writing checks to the companies that buy its hardware.

Nvidia has committed more than $40 billion to AI equity deals in 2026, according to CNBC, including $30 billion to OpenAI, $10 billion to Anthropic and up to $2 billion to xAI. It also struck deals this year with Poolside, Groq and Enfabrica. Much of that money flows back to Nvidia as revenue when portfolio companies buy its chips, a structure critics have called vendor financing.

Perplexity has raised more than $1.7 billion to date from investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Japan's SoftBank Group. CEO Aravind Srinivas has said he is considering an IPO around 2028, according to CNBC. In August he made an unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash offer for Google's Chrome browser, a bid Alphabet never seriously entertained.

The startup's growth has come as it expands beyond search into agents and browsing. Its Comet AI browser went free worldwide in October 2025 and cracked the top three on the US App Store within 48 hours of its iOS launch, according to app store tracking cited by TechCrunch. Perplexity Computer, priced at $200 a month, bundles rival AI models into an agentic workflow system.

The valuation jump reflects how quickly investor expectations have risen for AI search and agents competing with Google, whose Gemini now sits inside Search, and OpenAI's ChatGPT search. A $30 billion valuation buys Perplexity runway, credibility with enterprise customers and a backer with every incentive to keep its compute costs manageable. The re-rating from roughly $20 billion a year ago is among the fastest in the AI search segment, and it sets a benchmark for rivals seeking capital as the agent market takes shape.

Deal terms remain fluid and talks could still fall apart, people familiar with the matter said. If completed, the round would give Nvidia a larger stake in one of the fastest-growing consumer AI companies ahead of a potential Perplexity listing around 2028, while locking in a customer for its Vera CPUs and GPUs at a time when it faces rising competition from custom silicon built by Google and Amazon.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.