Perplexity eyes 2028 IPO

Perplexity is planning to go public in 2028, regardless of how investors respond to the upcoming listings of Anthropic and OpenAI, according to comments made by CEO Aravind Srinivas in an interview with CNBC.

Srinivas reportedly said the company's IPO plans remain unchanged despite growing attention on a wave of anticipated AI public offerings. He had previously indicated that Perplexity did not intend to pursue a public listing before 2028.

The CEO reportedly stated that the performance of listings from other competitors could have broader implications for the AI sector, adding that successful debuts would be positive for the wider industry. 

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Srinivas also defended the high valuations attached to frontier AI firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI, saying that their position at the forefront of AI development continues to justify investor confidence, though a sustained slowdown in model innovation could put pressure on those valuations.

The Perplexity chief also touched on changing enterprise attitudes towards AI spending. He reportedly said businesses are becoming more selective about how they deploy AI models, prioritising performance and cost efficiency rather than simply increasing usage.

He added that lower-cost open-source models could increasingly play a role where they are able to deliver comparable results, suggesting that enterprise AI spending is likely to become more measured over time.

Perplexity's plans come amid a growing wave of AI companies positioning themselves for public markets. Last week, Anthropic confidentially submitted a draft registration statement for a proposed IPO to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), giving the company the option to go public once the regulator completes its review process.

Shortly after, OpenAI also confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the SEC, describing the move as part of what its leaders see as the company's "third phase" of evolution. While OpenAI has not committed to a timeline for a potential listing, it said the filing provides flexibility to pursue a public offering should it decide that going public is in the company's best interests.

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