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is nearing completion of a funding round that will give the AI search startup a unicorn valuation of around $1 billion.

that the deal is being finalized and the new valuation. No new funding amount was disclosed.

The valuation is quite the jump from the $520 million the company was valued at just two months ago when it closed a $73.6 million Series B led by , with participation from several other firms and strategics such as and .

The near doubling in valuation in just two months is the latest example of the unwavering belief investors have in seemingly all things AI — regardless of the valuation.

Just last month, San Jose, California-based AI cloud computing startup raised a $320 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation led by ’s . The company offers cloud computing services and hardware for training artificial intelligence software. And San Francisco-based , a conversational AI company, raised $110 million led by and at a valuation of nearly $1 billion.

In addition, China’s artificial intelligence startup raised more than $1 billion last month in a round led by the and HongShan, formerly .

Moving fast

It was just last March when Perplexity  raised a $25.6 million Series A led by (and made our 5 interesting rounds list).

Since then, the company has apparently grown in investors’ eyes as AI has taken off. The WSJ story reported the startup recently surpassed $10 million in annual revenue.

Perhaps most interesting is the fact investors and strategics are willing to back a young startup looking to take on the invincible search titan .

The San Francisco-based firm  is looking to solve a problem we all deal with — the inadequacies of searching the web. Perplexity allows users to type straightforward queries on its website and responds with answers generated by its own AI — without getting inundated with ads, paid spots and SEO-enhanced results.

Many have tried to take on Google in search, including . Time will tell if this ends any differently.

Related reading:

• AI Compute Startup Lambda Hits $1.5B Valuation After Massive $320M Raise
• Generative AI Chip Designer Recogni Locks Up $102M
• Eye On AI: So Much For That Funding Slowdown

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