Perplexity AI has announced a $50 million venture fund to back early-stage artificial intelligence (AI) startups in the U.S. The majority of the funding will come from external investors, with Perplexity also contributing a portion from its previous capital raises.
The fund will be led by Kelly Graziadei and Joanna Lee Shevelenko, co-founders of F7 Ventures. However, it remains unclear whether they will continue their work at F7 or focus entirely on Perplexity’s investment efforts.
This move follows Perplexity’s $500 million funding round in December, which tripled its valuation to $9 billion. The round saw participation from SoftBank, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos.
Perplexity’s fund sets it apart from OpenAI, which operates the OpenAI Startup Fund but does not invest its own money. The AI search engine company is also expanding its product suite, recently introducing ‘Deep Research’ for AI-driven reports and developing a web browser named Comet.
The AI sector continues to attract major venture capital, with HSBC Innovation Banking reporting that AI startups accounted for 42% of all U.S. venture investments in 2024.
Industry experts see this trend as transformative. Dave Sabow of HSBC U.S. Innovation Banking described the surge as the dawn of “The Agentic Age,” where AI reshapes communication and work.
Meanwhile, other AI firms are securing large investments. Figure is reportedly negotiating a $1.5 billion funding round for humanoid robots, Lambda has raised $480 million, and Together.ai secured $305 million for open-source AI development.