- New subscribers can use Perplexity AI’s basic features for free. For unlimited access to Perplexity AI’s Copilot and some advanced features, a monthly subscription fee of $20 is required.
- As an emerging AI startup, Perplexity AI is relying on venture capital funding to support its rapid growth and supplement its capital needs beyond subscription revenue.
- Perplexity AI may explore other profit models in the future, such as integrated advertising such as integrated advertising or customised solutions for businesses, to achieve sustainable growth.
Perplexity AI currently earns money mainly from subscription and investment financing. Perplexity AI may explore other profit models in the future to achieve sustainable growth.
Subscription revenue
Perplexity AI adopts a “free + value-added services pay” profit model. Perplexity AI provides a free basic version, and users can use the core features for free. For more advanced features, such as uploading files for analysis, and using more powerful AI models (such as GPT-4), users need to subscribe to a paid plan, Perplexity Pro, which costs $20 per month or $200 per year.
As of October 2023, Perplexity AI has 15,000 paid subscribers. Paid users can use the advanced version of the search for answers, and summary of uploaded PDF documents, but also use more advanced models such as Claude and GPT-4, and unlimited use of Copilot features. The company’s annual revenue in 2023 has exceeded $10 million.
Also read:Perplexity’s ongoing fundraising spree
Venture capital financing
In addition to subscription revenues, Perplexity AI has secured significant venture capital financing that has provided sufficient funds to support its business operations and user expansion.
In March 2023, Perplexity AI closed a $25.6 million Series A round led by New Enterprise Associates, and in January 2024, Perplexity AI secured another $73.6 million round of funding, bringing its valuation to $520 million.
As of October 2023, Perplexity AI’s weekly visits had tripled from 2.75 million to 11.13 million, reflecting its high growth potential that attracted investors.
Perplexity AI has received hundreds of millions of dollars in Series A and follow-on financing, providing it with ample cash flow to support business expansion, reflecting investors’ optimism in its innovative AI search engine model and growth prospects.
Also read: xAI open-sources base model of Grok without any training code
Future profitability model
Perplexity AI currently has no adverts in its search results, but in the future, it may consider integrating adverts in its free version to generate revenue, a common profit model for search engines.
In addition to individual users, Perplexity AI may provide customised AI search and Q&A solutions for enterprise customers in the future, and charge corresponding fees, such as data integration and customer support.
Perplexity AI can work with other tech companies to integrate its AI search technology into partners’ products and services and share the revenue.
It may provide developers with paid API interfaces to give third-party apps access to its AI search and Q&A capabilities.
