Nvidia in talks to invest in Perplexity at a valuation above $30 billion

The round is expected to raise several billion dollars, according to BigGo Finance, which cited The Information. Perplexity declined to comment on the report and Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At more than $750 million in annualised revenue, a $30 billion valuation would price the company at close to 40 times sales.

Annualised revenue has climbed to more than $750 million from less than $250 million at the start of 2026, The Information reported. Much of the growth traces to Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based agent launched on 25 February 2026 that runs multi-step professional tasks. Annualised recurring revenue was about $10 million in early 2024, near $100 million by March 2025 and about $232 million at the end of 2025, Intelligent Living reported. Computer then took it from roughly $300 million to $450 million in a single month, the outlet said. Executives say monthly active users across the search and agent tools have passed 100 million, including tens of thousands of enterprise customers.

Why Nvidia keeps buying in

A stake keeps Nvidia close to a customer that burns GPU compute and generates the usage data that shapes what chips get built next. In July, Perplexity said it planned to use Nvidia's new Vera CPUs for AI-agent workloads, after finding the chips significantly outperformed traditional server processors on some of its core tasks. It has also signed a chip usage agreement with CoreWeave, a cloud provider Nvidia backs heavily, and representatives from both sides now meet several times a week to discuss hardware and software development, according to The Information.

Before settling on equity, Nvidia weighed a technology licensing arrangement and hiring some of Perplexity's staff, according to the report. The talks then moved to a straight stake. Nvidia has run a version of this playbook before: in September 2025 it committed up to $100 billion toward OpenAI data centre buildouts, and in March 2025 it joined Microsoft in a funding round for Anthropic with a commitment of up to $10 billion.

It took part in nearly 67 venture deals in 2025, up from 54 in 2024, according to PitchBook, and many of those companies spent the money on Nvidia chips. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon and other Wall Street analysts warn that such "circular financing" amplifies concern about whether AI capital spending is sustainable, BigGo Finance reported. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has pushed back, calling the partnerships a virtuous cycle.

The valuation climb

Perplexity raised $73.6 million at a $520 million valuation in January 2024, with Nvidia among the backers, then $63 million at $1.04 billion in March 2024 to reach unicorn status. It raised $500 million at $9 billion in late 2024 and another $500 million at $14 billion in May 2025, then a $100 million extension at $18 billion in July 2025, with Nvidia, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, NEA and IVP participating. A $200 million round in September 2025 set a $20 billion valuation, and a round that closed in January 2026 took it to about $23 billion.

What happens next

Chief executive Aravind Srinivas told CNBC in June that Perplexity plans to go public in 2028 regardless of how the market receives listings from Anthropic and OpenAI. Chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko told Reuters that holding 2028 as the earliest date let the company build a high-growth business.

The product line keeps moving. Perplexity's Teammates, always-on work agents that build on Computer, require the $200-a-month Max plan, The Verge reported. "Over time, we envision every org having hundreds of teammates working for each person," Srinivas said on X, according to The Verge.

Earlier this year Perplexity signed a $750 million agreement to use Microsoft's Azure cloud service, Bloomberg reported. Its backers include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Japan's SoftBank Group, alongside Nvidia.