Perplexity AI plans expansion in India, announces new hiring initiative
What's the story
Perplexity AI, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search start-up, is gearing up to expand its presence in India. The company's co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas took to LinkedIn to announce that they are looking for a candidate based in India for the same. The successful candidate will be required to work in a start-up environment and travel to meet strategic partners and institutions.
User base
Popularity and future growth prospects
Perplexity AI has already gained over a million users in India, indicating the increasing popularity of its offering. Founded in August 2022 by Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, the firm launched its answer engine in December 2022. It recently raised $500 million in funding, which tripled its valuation to $9 billion.
Growth strategy
Ambitious expansion plans in India
Speaking to Moneycontrol, Srinivas said he hopes to grow the company's user base by 10-100 times, thanks to India's huge population. The answer engine already has over 10 million active users globally and hopes to take on tech giants such as Google and Microsoft. Srinivas also said that awareness of generative AI is pretty strong among the Indian public.
Industry praise
Perplexity AI's innovative approach earns industry recognition
Perplexity AI's innovative approach has caught the attention of industry peers. Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of AI data cloud firm Snowflake, praised Perplexity for its API-driven strategy that permitted it to innovate quickly and build a successful product. The acknowledgment is particularly noteworthy as Ramaswamy's own firm, Neeva, tried building a search engine from scratch but found it unsustainable.