Perplexity AI is growing fast in the AI search world. The company handled 780 million search queries in May 2025 alone, with CEO Aravind Srinivas reporting over 20% growth each month.
“Give it a year, we’ll be doing, like, a billion queries a week if we can sustain this growth rate,” Srinivas said at Bloomberg’s Tech Summit. This marks massive progress for a company that processed just 3,000 queries daily when it launched in 2022.
With 22 million active users and annual recurring revenue approaching $100 million, Perplexity is positioning itself as an accuracy-focused alternative to traditional search. The company emphasizes providing direct answers with citations, making it easier for users to verify information sources.
Despite this growth, Perplexity remains small compared to search giant Google, which processes more than 100 billion searches weekly. Perplexity’s current numbers represent roughly what Google handles in just four days.
Srinivas criticized Google’s approach to AI search, pointing to its frequent rebranding efforts. “In 2023, they called it Search Generative Experience. In 2024, they called it AI Overview. This year they call it AI Mode. Next year, they’ll call her another name. But the feature never gets shipped to the user,” he said.
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He suggested Google faces a difficult balance between innovating with AI and protecting its advertising revenue. “They need the money. That’s the money paying for all the R&D spend on Gemini,” Srinivas explained.
Perplexity is now developing “Comet,” described not as just another browser but as a “cognitive operating system” that could challenge Google Chrome. Comet aims to transform how people use the internet by enabling AI to complete entire browsing tasks with a single prompt.
“Answers are essentially four or five searches in one. Actions are like an entire browsing session in one prompt,” Srinivas explained. “It’ll be there for you every time, anytime, for work or life.”
The company is also pursuing partnerships with phone manufacturers. After striking a deal with Motorola to pre-install its service, Perplexity is reportedly in talks with Samsung to potentially replace Google Gemini on Galaxy devices.
Perplexity has been expanding into commerce as well, partnering with PayPal to enable in-chat shopping for U.S. Pro users, following earlier integrations with brands like Whole Foods and TurboTax.
Currently seeking additional funding, Perplexity is reportedly in advanced discussions to raise $500 million, which could push its valuation to $14 billion. The company was valued at $9 billion in December 2024.
