Perplexity revenue surges 50% as startup pivots from search to AI agents

Perplexity revenue jumps 50% in pivot from search to AI agents

Perplexity's revenues have jumped 50 per cent in a month, as the start-up accelerates its shift into AI agents in an effort to keep pace with larger and better-funded rivals. Estimated annual recurring revenue rose to more than $450mn in March, after the launch of a new agent tool and a shift to usage-based pricing, according to figures seen by the FT. The move marks a shift of focus away from its chatbot-style search engine, once seen as the biggest challenge to Google in two decades. Instead, it is pushing AI agents that can carry out tasks on users' behalf, as companies across the sector experiment with pricing models to reflect the higher costs of running them. The start-up has more than 100mn monthly active users from its search and agent tools, according to executives, including tens of thousands of enterprise clients. It makes money through consumer and enterprise subscriptions, with tiers ranging from $20 to $200 monthly. With the launch of its AI agent Computer in February, Perplexity has also added a usage-based pricing model, under which top-tier subscribers receive a set number of credits before paying for additional use. Unlike subscription revenue, usage pricing can be a more volatile metric for estimating annual growth and less comparable with previous months. Before the new pricing system, the start-up had grown its ARR from $16mn to $305mn over two years, according to the figures seen by the FT. Even so, Perplexity's growth trajectory is dwarfed by other leading AI start-ups. Coding company Cursor has grown to $2bn ARR from less than $100mn in 2024. Anthropic said its ARR hit $19bn at the end of February, compared to the $20bn OpenAI generated last year. The company's focus on AI agents comes after its efforts to launch an AI-powered search engine proved controversial. It has faced lawsuits alleging copyright infringement and plagiarism by publishers such as The New York Times and Britannica, alleging that it is "illegally copying" content. A recent privacy suit claims it shared user data with Google and Meta without consent. The company has denied wrongdoing on these claims. Perplexity also put itself forward as a potential acquirer of the US arm of TikTok last year, a proposal that gained little traction as a group of existing investors and others with ties to the Trump administration eventually took control of the social media business. Last year, Perplexity launched its AI web browser, Comet, one of the first of this kind to market. Comet can act as an agent on users' behalf, following voice and text commands to perform tasks such as shopping, summarising social media feeds and sending emails. This year, Perplexity launched its agentic product Computer, as well as Model Council, which runs queries through different models and shows outputs side-by-side. The company offers a range of models from OpenAI's GPT and Anthropic's Claude, to open-source offerings from Chinese companies such as DeepSeek's R1 and Moonshot's Kimi. AI groups are now exploring pricing models to pay for heavier workloads driven by more agentic systems. After Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang encouraged the audience at its annual conference last month to subscribe to Perplexity's computer tool and "pay the maximum amount", Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity's chief executive, replied: "There is no limit, you can spend as much as you want." Perplexity was last valued at $20bn in September, up from $500mn at the beginning of 2024. Its investors include Nvidia, SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, venture capitalists New Enterprise Associates and IVP -- as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta's former chief AI scientist Yann LeCun. A Perplexity executive told the FT that revenue retention was "strong", without providing a figure. Lossmaking Perplexity pays model providers like OpenAI and Anthropic to use their models, as well as the inference costs of running queries. However, one person close to Perplexity said the start-up's advantage was being able to triage requests to the most efficient model for each purpose. For example, OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude Code for coding; OpenAI's GPT-5 for writing or Anthropic's Opus for reasoning, they said.

Perplexity's revenue has shot up 50% in one month, amid shift in focus to AI agents: FT - The Economic Times

Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Perplexity's revenue has surged 50% in just a month as it pushes deeper into AI agents, according to a report by the Financial Times. The company's annual recurring revenue (ARR) crossed $450 million as of March, the report said. This rise has been supported by the launch of its new agentic tool, Perplexity Computer, along with a shift towards usage-based pricing, it added. A company executive told FT that customer retention remains "strong", though no specific figures were shared. This growth comes alongside a clear change in strategy from when the company launched in 2022. Perplexity is moving away from its chatbot-style search engine, once seen as a serious challenger to Google, and placing greater emphasis on AI agents that can carry out tasks for users. The shift mirrors a wider industry move, as companies adjust their products and pricing to reflect the higher costs of running these systems. As part of this transition, the company has been expanding its product range. In 2024, it launched Comet, an AI-powered web browser that can act on a user's behalf, handling tasks such as shopping, summarising social media feeds and sending emails through voice or text commands. Building on that, Perplexity introduced its agent product Computer in February, which chief executive Aravind Srinivas described as the "next big thing". It also rolled out Model Council, a feature that lets users compare responses from different AI models side by side. This broader product push has helped the company scale its user base to more than 100 million monthly active users, including tens of thousands of enterprise customers. Revenue is generated through subscriptions priced between $20 and $200 per month. At the same time, the move to usage-based pricing marks a shift in how Perplexity earns money. Premium users are given a set number of credits and must pay extra if they exceed them. While this can boost revenue, it also makes earnings less predictable and harder to compare over time than traditional subscription models. Even before this change, Perplexity had seen rapid expansion, with ARR growing from $16 million to $305 million over two years, the Financial Times noted. Despite this progress, it still remains smaller than some competitors. Cursor has reached $2 billion in ARR from under $100 million in 2024, while Anthropic reported a run rate of $19 billion as of February, and OpenAI generated about $20 billion last year. Investor confidence, however, remains strong. Perplexity was valued at $20 billion in September 2025, a significant rise from $500 million at the start of 2024.

Perplexity's Shift to AI Agents Boosts Revenue 50% | PYMNTS.com

By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications from PYMNTS and to the sharing of your information with our sponsor, if applicable, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. The company's revenues have jumped 50% in the last month, with estimated annual recurring revenue (ARR) topping $450 million in March, the Financial Times (FT) reported Wednesday (April 8), citing figures seen by the news outlet. As the report notes, the move marks a pivot from the chatbot-style search engine once viewed as a credible challenge to Google to AI agents that perform tasks on user's behalf. Perplexity has more than 100 million monthly active users from its search and agent tools, the FT said, citing company executives. This includes tens of thousands of enterprise clients, with the company making money via consumer and enterprise subscriptions, which can cost anywhere from $20 to $200 a month. The FT points out that Perplexity's growth is still dwarfed by that of other top AI startups. For example, coding company Cursor has seen its ARR reach $2 billion, up from less than $100 million in 2024. Anthropic reported an ARR of $19 billion at the end of February, while OpenAI said it generated $20 billion last year. Writing about the rise of agentic AI last month, PYMNTS noted research showing that many consumers now use AI tools to assist with everyday duties like planning trips, researching purchases, organizing personal finances and learning about new subjects. "Instead of serving as occasional utilities, AI systems are becoming general-purpose assistants embedded across multiple aspects of daily decision-making," that report said. "This shift matters because habitual use changes the starting point of digital activity." In other Perplexity news, the company this week introduced a new tax agent for Computer, its agentic AI designed to complete complex tasks with limited human supervision. "The distinction between Computer and general-purpose AI chatbots is structural," PYMNTS wrote. "Tools like ChatGPT or Gemini respond to tax questions based on training data that has a fixed cutoff date and no direct connection to current IRS materials." That report pointed to a test of four major AI chatbots conducted by TaxSlayer which found the tools miscalculated the refund or amount owed by an average of more than $2,000 in eight fictional tax scenarios, even when given the necessary forms. Perplexity says it has addressed this by packaging tax knowledge as loadable modules built on its Agent Skills protocol. These modules are continuously updated and grounded in materials and regulations from the IRS, allowing the system to apply current rules.

Perplexity revenue jumps 50% in pivot to AI agents- FT By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Perplexity's revenues increased 50% in a month as the start-up ramped up its shift into AI agents from search tools, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Perplexity's estimated annual recurring revenue rose to more than $450 million in March, after the launch of a new agent tool and a shift to usage-based pricing, the Financial Times reported. Perplexity is pushing AI agents that can carry out tasks on users' behalf, as companies across the sector experiment with pricing models to reflect the higher costs of running them. The start-up has more than 100 million monthly active users from its search and agent tools, the FT said, including tens of thousands of enterprise clients. It makes money through consumer and enterprise subscriptions, with tiers ranging from $20 to $200 monthly. Its investors include Nvidia, SoftBank's Vision Fund 2, venture capitalists New Enterprise Associates and IVP, as well as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta Platform's former chief AI scientist Yann LeCun. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.