In the broader AI investment landscape, 42% of U.S. venture capital was directed toward AI companies in 2024, reflecting a significant increase from previous years. This surge in investment is seen as fueling the "Agentic Age," characterized by transformative AI capabilities. Notably, three startups in robotics and cloud AI recently raised a combined $2.3 billion, with Figure, Lambda, and Together.ai securing substantial funding rounds to advance their AI technologies.
Key takeaways:
- Perplexity AI is creating a $50 million venture fund for U.S.-based pre-seed and seed AI startups, with outside limited partners providing most of the capital.
- Perplexity AI recently closed a $500 million funding round, tripling its valuation to $9 billion, with backers including SoftBank, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos.
- Perplexity AI plans to launch its own web browser called Comet and has introduced an AI-powered shopping assistant named Buy With Pro.
- Increased investment in AI is leading to significant industry consolidation, with 42% of U.S. venture capital invested in AI companies in 2024.