Startup Prioritizes Revenue Over Growth Metrics
Perplexity is accelerating its push into subscriptions and enterprise sales, signaling a stronger emphasis on monetization as it matures in the competitive AI search market. Company executives said Monday that revenue growth and retention will now take precedence over headline metrics such as total queries answered.
The San Francisco-based startup has experienced rapid expansion over the past year, reporting that revenue increased 4.7 times during that period. By mid-2025, Perplexity had surpassed $150 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), according to company leadership, and later reached $200 million in ARR by October.
Despite this growth, executives declined to provide updated financial details at a roundtable with reporters. They emphasized instead a strategic shift toward sustainable business performance.
No Immediate Plans for Advertising
Unlike some competitors in the generative AI space, Perplexity is not actively pursuing advertising deals within its chatbot interface. An executive said the company is not currently exploring ad partnerships, distancing the firm from models that integrate sponsored content into AI-generated answers.
The decision contrasts with OpenAI’s increasing openness to advertising experiments, while rival Anthropic has publicly maintained resistance to ad-based monetization. Perplexity had previously announced plans in 2024 to test ads, but that initiative stalled, and its advertising lead departed quietly last year.
Executives acknowledged a key challenge: users may distrust AI responses that contain promotional material. Maintaining credibility, they suggested, is central to long-term adoption.
Enterprise Push Intensifies
Perplexity is also expanding its focus on enterprise customers. The company currently has a five-person enterprise sales team but plans to grow that function significantly. Executives said they are targeting large organizations and high-powered professionals, including finance specialists, physicians and corporate executives.
This shift positions Perplexity more directly against companies such as Glean, which provides AI-powered internal search tools for businesses. In 2024, Perplexity introduced an enterprise product capable of generating research reports by integrating both internal corporate data and external sources.
While the company pledged to maintain a free version of its service with usage limits, the emphasis is clearly on subscription tiers and long-term contracts with businesses.
Facing Investor Skepticism
The renewed monetization focus comes amid skepticism in some venture capital circles. At an AI industry conference last year, Silicon Valley investors informally identified Perplexity as the startup they would most likely bet against, reflecting broader concerns about valuation levels and the possibility of an AI market bubble.
Executives suggested that in recent months the company has intentionally kept a lower profile, concentrating on product development rather than industry debates. The leadership framed the current pivot as a natural progression from rapid growth to disciplined execution.