Nvidia is reportedly holding talks to invest in AI search startup Perplexity, a deal that could push the company's valuation above $30 billion — a jump of more than 50% from the roughly $20 billion valuation it commanded about a year ago.
Perplexity's annualized revenue run rate has tripled in eight months, climbing from under $250 million at the start of 2026 to $750 million now, driven partly by Perplexity Computer, a cloud-based AI agent for automating computer tasks. The startup also reaches roughly 800 million devices through a Samsung integration and reportedly aims for an IPO in 2028.
The talks fit a broader shift for Nvidia, which has poured tens of billions into AI hardware and data center partners and is now turning toward AI software and open-weight models — alongside its own open-source Nemotron model — as it works to keep its chips central to the AI stack. Neither company has confirmed the discussions, and the investment size remains undisclosed.