Nvidia is preparing to back Perplexity in a new equity funding round that could value the AI search company at more than $30 billion. The prospective valuation marks an increase of over 50% compared to its previous $20 billion valuation. While neither company has officially confirmed the deal, the investment reflects a push by the hardware giant to expand its footprint across consumer AI software.
According to a report from The Information, the new capital injection would place Perplexity among the most valuable independent artificial intelligence startups in the world. Perplexity declined to comment on the negotiations, and Nvidia has not released an official statement. Backing consumer search allows Nvidia to secure deeper ties with software platforms that process millions of daily user requests on its server hardware.
Perplexity has experienced rapid commercial growth in recent months. The startup saw its annualized revenue jump from under $250 million to more than $750 million. Much of that revenue surge comes from Perplexity Computer, a cloud product that helps corporate users automate complex computer workflows. The tool represents a shift from simple question answering systems toward autonomous agent software that executes multi step tasks directly on personal computers.
The prospective Perplexity deal fits into an aggressive string of software investments. Portfolio tracking data from Bank of America Global Research reveals that Nvidia has committed tens of billions of dollars across the entire technology supply chain over the past year. Major capital outlays include up to $10 billion for Anthropic, roughly $2 billion for cloud provider CoreWeave, and a massive $30 billion injection into OpenAI. The chip giant also committed $3.2 billion to Corning and $5 billion to Safe Superintelligence.
The strategy also extends to intellectual property deals and talent acquisition. Nvidia recently agreed to pay $6 billion to license AI models from coding startup Poolside, adding another $1 billion direct investment and job offers for over 100 of its technical staff. By spreading capital across top software labs, Nvidia is working to secure long term hardware demand by ensuring these fast growing startups continue building their services on Nvidia computing infrastructure.
