Perplexity’s revenue has shot up 50% in one month, amid shift in focus to AI agents: FT – The Economic Times

Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Perplexity’s revenue has surged 50% in just a month as it pushes deeper into AI agents, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The company’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) crossed $450 million as of March, the report said. This rise has been supported by the launch of its new agentic tool, Perplexity Computer, along with a shift towards usage-based pricing, it added.

A company executive told FT that customer retention remains “strong”, though no specific figures were shared.

This growth comes alongside a clear change in strategy from when the company launched in 2022. Perplexity is moving away from its chatbot-style search engine, once seen as a serious challenger to Google, and placing greater emphasis on AI agents that can carry out tasks for users. The shift mirrors a wider industry move, as companies adjust their products and pricing to reflect the higher costs of running these systems.

As part of this transition, the company has been expanding its product range. In 2024, it launched Comet, an AI-powered web browser that can act on a user’s behalf, handling tasks such as shopping, summarising social media feeds and sending emails through voice or text commands.

Building on that, Perplexity introduced its agent product Computer in February, which chief executive Aravind Srinivas described as the “next big thing”. It also rolled out Model Council, a feature that lets users compare responses from different AI models…