Last month, Perplexity AI also made a bid to merge with TikTok U.S. as the social media platform faces a potential U.S. shutdown.
The company sees a potential investing advantage when it comes to startups because roughly 80,000 developers are plugged into its network, so Perplexity gets visibility into who is using its application programming interface, or API, and who is most active in their consumption, the person said.
Perplexity's founders and investors are putting money into the fund, and some of the company's commitment is in the form of stock, the source said.