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∆ Tech in the News

New OpenAI Rival - Elon Musk’s XAI is nearing a deal to raise $6B from Sequoia Capital and others in a round that would value the company at $18B.

Ticking Clock - Pres. Biden signed into law a measure to force ByteDance to sell TikTok within 270 days. Value estimates range from $20B - $100B+ but TikTok says it will simply shut down in the U.S. if legal appeals are exhausted.

“AI Robotics Company" - Tesla offset a big Q1 earnings miss with reveals of: 1. plans to speed up its new affordable vehicle release; 2. The Optimus robot by year's end; and 3. A preview of its CyberCab robotaxi ride-hailing app.

Non-Compete Clauses - The FTC voted to ban nearly all noncompete agreements (often used in tech employment). However, within 24 hours, two business groups sued the agency in Texas, which may delay enforcement.

IPO Pop - Cybersecurity firm Rubrik's shares popped 20% on their NYSE debut Thursday, valuing the Microsoft-backed company at ~$6.8B. 

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The Hottest Thing in Tech this Week

Perplexity, OpenAI, Bing Disrupt Google Search

There’s a new AI search unicorn on the block at a time when the future of consumer activity on the internet is being reshaped by AI! AI “answer engine” startup Perplexity just raised an additional $62.7M to support its enterprise growth. The round led by Daniel Gross, and backed by Nvidia, IVP, NEA, Jeff Bezos, and Garry Tan valued perplexity at over $1 billion - a 150% value jump from its $73.6M January round at $530M. But it’s not done yet, Perplexity is now in talks to raise a $250M mega-round, at another 150% valuation multiple.

Why is so much smart money betting on Perplexity?

Perplexity offers a user-friendly chatbot UX for users to ask natural language questions and get AI-summarized responses with citations and links. It currently serves ~169M queries per month, and powers results on Rabbit‘s R1" AI Agent gadget or "universal controller" for apps. Even more crucially, it simultaneously launched its new Perplexity Enterprise Pro service already being deployed at firms like Databricks, Bridgewater, Stripe, Zoom, Snowflake, and the Cleveland Cavs. At $40 p/mth or $400 p/a complete with SOC2, SSO, and enterprise-grade data security, this could generate significant revenue.

Small Fish in a Dangerous Pond?

A $2B+ valuation is no joke, but the search field is notoriously vicious and the giants are not sleeping. OpenAI is preparing to launch a search product with Microsoft’s Bing and GPT-5 to directly compete with Google. Google is taking these challenges seriously. Google search boss Prabhakar Raghavan warned employees of a 'new operating reality,' saying “things are not like they were 15-20 years ago” as its search dominance and ad revenue come under threat. Meta recently tapped Google (and Bing) for search results on their apps and its AI Assistant in search, which is essentially a Perplexity rip-off.

So can Perplexity continue to compete and innovate in this crowded pond, or will one of the sharks eat them whole? Either way, we’re here for the battle.

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• About their moat and why Jeff Bezos is backing them

• How they are creating millions of dollars of value for SMBs

• How business owners can leverage their enterprise models

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