Nvidia is investing in Perplexity with a $30B valuation

Nvidia is discussing investing in the AI search engine company Perplexity at a valuation of over $30 billion, which is 50% more than their last round. Within a year, they have gone from $250M to $750M in annual revenue thanks to their AI agent, Perplexity Computer. They have raised over $1.7 billion in funding so far, with their CEO Aravind Srinivas planning on going public in ~2028.

Nvidia has been making strategic investments in various AI startups such as Poolside, Groq, and Enfabrica. This creates a virtuous cycle where they invest in startups who then use their chips, and they use their dominance in computing power to get equity in future startups.