Perplexity CEO Denies Financial Troubles, Rules Out IPO Before 2028

Perplexity CEO denies having financial issues, says no IPO before 2028 | TechCrunch

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas recently took to Reddit to address users' product complaints and reassure them that the company is not under serious financial pressure. Srinivas seemed to be responding, in part, to a user theory that the company is "doing horribly financially" and "making lots of changes to cut costs." As an example, the theorizer pointed to Perplexity's Auto mode, where the AI search engine automatically selects the model with which to answer a user's prompt. On the contrary, Srinivas said Perplexity created Auto mode because "all AI products right now are shipping non-stop and adding a ton of buttons and dropdown menus and clutter," which he said is "not sustainable." "The user shouldn't have to learn so much to use a product," he said. As for whether Perplexity is facing pressure to cut costs or IPO, Srinivas said, "We have all the funding we've raised, and our revenue is only growing." In fact, he said the company has "no plans of IPOing before 2028."

Perplexity AI CEO Denies Rumors Company Is Disintegrating Behind the Scenes

Image by Kimberly White / Getty Images for TechCrunch / Futurism The CEO of Perplexity AI insists that his company is doing just fine, thank you very much. Responding to a user theory suggesting that the company is suffering glitches because it's "doing horribly financially," CEO Aravind Srinivas took to his haters' home turf -- that is, the r/Perplexity_AI subreddit -- to set the record straight. In the original trash-talking post, user "nothingeverhappen" alleged, per a "campus strategist" they know, that Perplexity had "paused all funding for marketing and partnerships." They also claimed that the wannabe Google competitor is "going public on the stock market" -- a move they wagered would "only" happen if Perplexity needed a "massive cash injection." Additionally, the user said they suspected that the AI search company may be cutting costs in other ways, including that it seems to revert to "auto mode" regardless of user preference -- a reference to Perplexity's drop-down which, like most other chatbots, lets users toggle between its quicker, more basic model and its slower "deep research" mode. Speculation of this sort isn't unusual once a company reaches a valuation in the billions, as Perplexity has -- and Perplexity has given folks plenty to kvetch about with its hallucination-happy AI search engine that has been roundly accused of plagiarism. Still, Srinivas chose to respond directly to the peanut gallery. "The user shouldn't have to learn so much to use a product," the CEO wrote. "That's the motivation with 'Auto' mode. Let the AI decide for the user if it's a quick-fast-answer query, or a slightly-slower-multi-step pro-search query, or slow-reasoning-mode query, or a really slow deep research query." "Our goal isn't to save money and scam you in any way," he continued. "It's genuinely to build a better product with less clutter and simple selector for customization options for the technically adept and well-informed users." As for the OP's claim that Perplexity is "going public," Srinivas retorted that the claim wasn't true -- and that the company has no plans to do an initial public offering (IPO) until at least 2028. "We have all the funding we've raised," he said, "and our revenue is only growing." Of course, Srinivas could well be presenting a personally convenient vision of the future, given that many believe the AI bubble is fit to burst. Still, the claims from Perplexity's detractors don't hold that much water -- and responding so unequivocally is generally the best route to quelling investor clamminess, anyway.

Perplexity CEO says AI startup has no financial issues; rules out IPO before 2028

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas addressed user concerns on Reddit, denying financial troubles and emphasised that there will be no IPO plans before 2028. He explained that Auto mode was designed to reduce UI clutter, not cut costs. Srinivas admitted quality issues due to rapid feature launches, apologised, and promised stronger processes.Aravind Srinivas, CEO of AI-powered search engine Perplexity, recently joined a Reddit discussion to address issues being raised by users. He also used the opportunity to assert that the company does not face any significant financial difficulties. "We have all the funding we've raised, and our revenue is only growing," Srinivas stated. "We have no plans of IPOing before 2028." Earlier, a Reddit user had claimed in a post that the company was struggling financially and this had led it to implement cost-cutting measures. The user highlighted several factors that appeared to indicate Perplexity is doing "horribly financially". One example was Perplexity's Auto mode, which the user claimed is "switching every follow-up question back to auto instead of the model you selected before." The user also claimed that high-quality models such as o1 are no longer available, possibly to cut costs. In response, Srinivas explained that Perplexity developed the Auto mode because: "All AI products right now are shipping non-stop and adding a ton of buttons and dropdown menus and clutter," which he described as "not sustainable". "The user shouldn't have to learn so much to use a product," he added. Admission of quality issues Srinivas admitted that Perplexity's focus on quick launches and new features such as Answer mode have led to quality issues, bugs, and user confusion. The CEO apologised for the recent dip in quality and for the lack of transparency, and promised to put stronger processes in place.

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas Shuts Down Financial Rumors, Says AI Search Startup Has 'No Plans Of IPOing Before 2028' - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Last week, in a direct response to growing speculation online, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas took to Reddit Inc. RDDT to deny rumors that the AI search company is facing financial trouble or preparing for an imminent IPO. What Happened: Srinivas addressed user concerns in a Reddit thread where some claimed Perplexity was in financial trouble and making cost-cutting changes, citing the platform's Auto mode as an example. Auto mode lets Perplexity choose the best AI model for a prompt rather than allowing users to manually select one. The CEO pushed back on that narrative, saying the change wasn't about cutting costs but improving user experience. See Also: Tesla Bull Pierre Ferragu Predicts $113 Combined Market Cap Of Elon Musk's AI Startup xAI And X Will Look 'Tiny' In Few Years: 'So Much Potential' "All AI products right now are shipping non-stop and adding a ton of buttons and dropdown menus and clutter," Srinivas wrote. "The user shouldn't have to learn so much to use a product." He also dismissed any concerns of financial instability. "We have all the funding we've raised, and our revenue is only growing," Srinivas stated. He added, "We have no plans of IPOing before 2028," making it clear that the company isn't in a rush to go public. Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Why It Matters: Perplexity is backed by prominent investors such as Amazon.com Inc. AMZN founder Jeff Bezos and Nvidia Corp. NVDA. The AI startup is reportedly in talks to raise up to $1 billion in a new funding round. This would value the company at $18 billion, doubling its valuation in just four months. Perplexity has also intensified competition in the AI search market, challenging Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL with new features like answer modes for specific verticals such as travel and shopping. Previously, Srinivas also expressed confidence in Perplexity's ability to enhance AI capabilities, even suggesting that the startup could improve Apple Inc.'s AAPL AI offerings amid criticism of Apple's delayed AI initiatives. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Read Next: Apple's iPad Turns 15 Today: Here's A Throwback To When Steve Jobs Explained Called It The 'Third Category' After Phones And Notebooks Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Shutterstock AAPLApple Inc$216.11-0.82%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum81.01Growth43.94Quality86.60Value7.46Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewAMZNAmazon.com Inc$189.24-1.81%GOOGAlphabet Inc$154.50-1.00%GOOGLAlphabet Inc$153.00-0.86%NVDANVIDIA Corp$105.73-3.59%RDDTReddit Inc$102.20-5.12%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Perplexity CEO: Company is Not Seeing Financial Strain | PYMNTS.com

The CEO of artificial intelligence (AI) firm Perplexity says there's no truth to speculation that his company is struggling. Aravind Srinivas made this comment in a recent Reddit post -- flagged Sunday (March 30) in a report by TechCrunch -- aimed at reassuring users and answering their product complaints. As the TechCrunch report noted, Srinivas seemed to be replying to a user theory that the AI search company is "doing horribly financially" and "making lots of changes to cut costs." For instance, this theory cites Perplexity's Auto mode, where the AI search engine automatically chooses the model with which to answer a user's prompt. But according to Srinivas, the company Perplexity developed Auto mode because "all AI products right now are shipping non-stop and adding a ton of buttons and dropdown menus and clutter," which he argued is "not sustainable." "The user shouldn't have to learn so much to use a product," he said. In terms of whether the company is under pressure to reduce costs or hold an initial public offering, he added that Perplexity has "all the funding we've raised, and our revenue is only growing," and that they have "no plans of IPOing before 2028." The news comes amid a busy time for Perplexity, which recently announced its vision for the future of social media platform TikTok following weeks of reports that it hoped to merge with the ByteDance-owned company. "Perplexity is singularly positioned to rebuild the TikTok algorithm without creating a monopoly, combining world-class technical capabilities with Little Tech independence," the company wrote on its blog earlier this month. "Any acquisition by a consortium of investors could in effect keep ByteDance in control of the algorithm, while any acquisition by a competitor would likely create a monopoly in the short form video and information space. All of society benefits when content feeds are liberated from the manipulations of foreign governments and globalist monopolists." Last week, the company announced a commerce-related partnership with firmly.ai, which -- as PYMNTS wrote -- will let Perplexity users browse and buy products without leaving the platform, "preserving consumer attention while streamlining the journey from inquiry to checkout." Taz Patel, Perplexity's head of advertising, said the strategy hinges on following "user behavior traits" to serve the consumer at the appropriate moment in their buying journey. "We're seeing that the users are actually acting and engaging with the queries they're putting into Perplexity," he told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. "Once we provide them the ability to actually shop in a quicker fashion, they're doing it."