Perplexity AI Acquires Visual Electric Team, Bolstering AI-Driven Design Capabilities

Perplexity acquires the team behind Sequioa-backed AI design startup Visual Electric | TechCrunch

Sequoia-backed AI design startup Visual Electric said that it is joining search startup Perplexity today. The company noted on its site that the team would be joining a new Agent Experiences group at Perplexity. Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity's CEO, confirmed the acquisition with a post on X. Deal terms were not disclosed. The startup said that as part of the transition, it will shut down Visual Electric as a product in 90 days. It added that users will be able to export their data, and subscribers will get prorated refunds. Visual Electric was founded in 2022 by Colin Dunn, a former Facebook and Dropbox employee, Adam Menges, a former Apple employee, and Zach Stiggelbout, a former Microsoft engineer. The tool, aimed at designers, lets users create images using AI and apply edits on an infinite canvas. The idea was to have designers build ideations and concepts over a whiteboard. Over time, the company added support for video generation, as well. The startup had raised $2.5 million in funding from Sequoia, BoxGroup, and Designer Fund.

Perplexity acquires Visual Electric to rival OpenAI's Sora, Google's Nano Banana - The Economic Times

Perplexity AI has acquired artificial intelligence (AI) based image and video generation platform Visual Electric, the companies said in separate announcements on Wednesday. "We've acquired Visual Electric. The team led by Colin Dunn and Adam Menges is fantastic and they will work together with us on new consumer product experiences that we're excited to ship to all Perplexity and Comet users pretty soon!," Perplexity chief executive Aravind Srinivas posted on X. Visual Electric said that it will wind down its current operations over the next 90 days, and form a new Agent Experiences group at Perplexity. The companies did not divulge details of the acquisition deal. During this transition period, customers will have access to their accounts, tokens and work on the platform. As the platform closes, subscribers will receive prorated refunds, and all users will be able to export their data, Visual Electric said. Users will receive a gift from Perplexity in coming days, Visual Electric said, without giving details. Perplexity's acquisition of Visual Electric comes close on heels of rivals Google and OpenAI making inroads in AI image and video generation. The ChatGPT parent spun off its Sora image and video generator into a social media app to claw market share from TikTok and Meta's Reels. Last week, Meta launched Vibes, a feed of AI short-form videos within its Meta AI app. Google's Nano Banana image generator became popular last month, sparking social media trends. Among them was the 'Banana AI saree' trend, which allowed users to recreate their images wearing the traditional Indian drape, and saw celebrities taking a crack at it. In another such trend, people created images of them as realistic action figures. Also Read: ETtech Interview: India now our biggest user base; plan to launch local fund: Aravind Srinivas, cofounder, Perplexity