PANews, July 18 - According to the Financial Times, AI startup Perplexity has reached a valuation of $18 billion after its latest round of funding. The company is supported by well-known investors such as Nvidia and SoftBank and is currently in talks with investors for a new round of $1 billion financing. With its AI-driven search technology, Perplexity is rapidly challenging the dominance of traditional search engine giants like Google.