Perplexity

Key facts

Focus areas

About

Perplexity is a San Francisco AI company, founded in 2022, that builds an answer engine. It replies to questions with cited answers drawn from the live web and a user's own files, instead of a list of links. Consumers use the free product and the Pro and Max subscriptions, while companies buy Enterprise Pro and Enterprise Max with admin controls, data retention settings and connectors to internal tools. Its range now includes Comet, an AI web browser, and Perplexity Computer, an agent that carries out multi-step research, coding and deployment tasks across more than 400 connected applications. Developers can build Perplexity search into their own products through the Sonar API. The company raised US$200m at a US$20bn valuation in September 2025; its backers include IVP, NEA, NVIDIA, Databricks and Jeff Bezos. Comet Enterprise, launched in March 2026 with CrowdStrike security integration, counts Fortune, AWS, AlixPartners and Gunderson Dettmer among its early users.

How they use AI

Perplexity combines its own search index and retrieval systems with large language models. Some models it trains or fine-tunes itself under the Sonar name; others come from providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Each question triggers a live search, and the model writes an answer with numbered citations to its sources. Users can pick which model answers on paid plans. Perplexity Computer goes further: it splits a goal into steps, routes each step to one of about 20 specialised models, and uses connectors to read and act in tools such as Slack, Salesforce, Snowflake and GitHub. It can run recurring automations, and since October 2026 it can run fully on a local Mac. Comet builds the same assistant into the browser, so it can summarise pages, manage tabs and navigate sites to complete tasks. Comet Enterprise adds central admin controls, audit logs and CrowdStrike Falcon protection against phishing and data leaks. For businesses, Enterprise plans keep company data out of model training and let staff search internal files alongside the web.

Products and services

• Perplexity — Answer engine for web and file search with cited answers, available free and through Pro and Max subscriptions on web, desktop and mobile
• Perplexity Enterprise Pro and Enterprise Max — Business plans with admin controls, single sign-on, data protections and connectors to internal knowledge sources
• Comet — AI web browser with a built-in assistant that summarises pages and completes tasks across tabs
• Comet Enterprise — Managed version of Comet with admin policies, MDM deployment, telemetry, audit logs and CrowdStrike Falcon integration, launched March 2026
• Perplexity Computer — Agent that plans and runs multi-step work across research, coding, design and deployment, routing tasks across about 20 models and 400+ connected apps, with a Computer for Enterprise edition
• Sonar API — Developer API that adds Perplexity's cited search answers to other applications

Notable customers / partners

• Fortune
• Amazon Web Services
• AlixPartners
• Gunderson Dettmer
• Stripe
• Zoom
• Snowflake

Key people

• Aravind Srinivas — Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
• Denis Yarats — Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
• Johnny Ho — Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
• Andy Konwinski — Co-Founder
• Dmitry Shevelenko — Chief Business Officer

Investors

• IVP
• NEA
• Accel
• Bessemer Venture Partners
• NVIDIA
• Databricks Ventures
• Jeff Bezos (Bezos Expeditions)
• Elad Gil
• Nat Friedman