Nvidia Discusses Backing Perplexity at a $30 Billion-Plus Valuation
On August 23, 2026, The Information reported that Nvidia is discussing an investment in Perplexity as part of an equity round that would value the AI search and agent startup at more than $30 billion. Reuters relayed the exclusive Sunday night. The round is talks, not a signed deal; Nvidia had also considered a licensing-plus-hire structure.
TLDR
Sunday, August 23, 2026: The Information reported that Nvidia is discussing investing in Perplexity as part of an equity round that would value the startup at more than $30 billion—more than 50% above last year’s ~$20 billion mark (TI, September 2025). Reuters (dateline Aug 23; site stamp Aug 24 03:18 UTC) relayed TI. Perplexity ARR has risen to more than $750 million from under $250 million at the start of 2026, partly from Perplexity Computer. TI: Nvidia had also considered a multibillion-dollar licensing deal plus hiring some staff—the Poolside pattern. Perplexity declined to comment; Nvidia did not immediately respond. No newsroom primary. Label it talks.
What the exclusive said
| Item | The Information Aug 23 + Reuters / PYMNTS |
|---|---|
| Structure | Equity round participation — not signed |
| Valuation | >$30B ( |
| Alt structure considered | License Perplexity tech + hire staff |
| Revenue cited | ARR >$750M (from <$250M YTD) |
| Product named | Perplexity Computer (enterprise agent) |
| Primary | TI exclusive; Nvidia/Perplexity no comment in the wire recap |
Financing talks with named parties, dollar scale, and an alternative license-plus-hire path are first-class under the lab sweep even without a close. Do not treat this as a completed round.
Product-line de-dupe: not Aug 10 $500B compute financing MOUs, not Aug 17 Groq $350M Series A, not Aug 20 Poolside $6B Model Factory (that one is a signed license-plus-hire). Lancium / Stargate power ($3B talks) was a first-week-of-August TI exclusive—do not dual-date it here; the Sunday piece’s “power firm” briefing line is the same prior story.
Why this story matters
Nvidia keeps writing equity and license checks into the software layer that consumes its racks. A >$30B Perplexity mark would put a search-and-agent company in the same financing neighborhood as mid-tier labs, on $750M ARR. Watch: whether the round prices, whether the license-plus-hire option comes back (Poolside already showed that path), and whether Huang’s circular-deal critics get a new exhibit.
Sources
- The Information: Nvidia Discusses Perplexity Investment at $30 Billion-Plus Valuation (August 23, 2026)
- Reuters: Nvidia discusses Perplexity investment at $30 billion-plus valuation, The Information reports (dateline August 23, 2026)
- PYMNTS: Nvidia Considers Backing Perplexity at $30 Billion Valuation (August 24 recap of Sunday report)
- Times of AI:
nvidia-poolside-6-billion-model-factory(August 20)