Perplexity processed 780 million search queries in May 2025. At Bloomberg's Tech Summit, CEO Aravind Srinivas announced over 20% month-over-month growth for the company. The AI search engine continues its meteoric rise with 22 million active users, $100 million in annual recurring revenue, and plans to launch its Comet browser within weeks while pursuing funding that could push its valuation to $18 billion.
Perplexity's consistent 20% month-over-month growth in search queries represents a remarkable acceleration in the AI search market, with CEO Aravind Srinivas setting an ambitious target of processing 1 billion queries weekly by the end of 2025.12 This growth rate has enabled Perplexity to evolve from handling 230 million monthly queries in August 2024 to 780 million in May 2025, demonstrating the platform's increasing adoption as users seek alternatives to traditional search engines.13
The company's rapid query growth coincides with its strategic expansion into hardware partnerships, exemplified by its collaboration with Motorola to become a native assistant on Android devices. Srinivas didn't mince words when discussing competition, stating that "Google Assistant is a terrible experience, and they know it themselves," while claiming Google has given Perplexity "an extremely hard time" regarding distribution deals with OEMs.1 This aggressive growth strategy appears to be working as Perplexity carves out its 6.2% market share in the increasingly competitive AI search landscape.3
Perplexity's trajectory from handling just 3,000 queries in a single day in 2022 to processing 30 million daily queries in 2025 illustrates the company's explosive growth path.1 CEO Aravind Srinivas's projection of reaching "a billion queries a week" within a year represents more than a 30% increase from current levels, building on the foundation of 780 million monthly queries recorded in May 2025.23 This ambitious forecast is supported by Perplexity's consistent 20% month-over-month growth rate and strategic initiatives like the upcoming Comet browser.
The company's growth metrics reveal remarkable momentum with annual figures jumping from 500 million total queries in 2024 to a projected 3+ billion for 2025.45 This acceleration comes as Perplexity positions itself as an accuracy-focused alternative to traditional search engines, with Srinivas directly contrasting their approach against "hallucination-prone answers plaguing many AI rivals" while pursuing partnerships and funding that could further accelerate adoption.2
Perplexity's Comet browser represents a fundamental shift in how AI interacts with the web, moving beyond information retrieval to autonomous task execution. Built on Chromium for cross-platform compatibility, Comet leverages "agentic search" to perform complex tasks like booking flights, managing online purchases, and filling forms with minimal user input.12 The browser employs a sophisticated hybrid architecture that balances on-device processing using lightweight neural networks for basic tasks with cloud-based resources for more complex operations, automatically switching between modes based on network latency, model size requirements, and data sensitivity.3
The technical innovation behind Comet includes WebML API integration for hardware-accelerated operations, model caching, and a privacy sandbox that processes sensitive inputs through isolated Web Workers.3 This architecture enables AI agents to bypass platform restrictions (particularly on iOS) and seamlessly integrate with various applications.2 With over 800 app integrations planned, Comet aims to become a central hub for digital interactions while implementing a three-tier data policy that prioritizes user privacy through local-only processing for sensitive operations, pseudonymous cloud interactions for non-sensitive tasks, and explicit consent requirements for data-intensive operations.31
Public reception of Comet has been mixed, with technology enthusiasts praising its innovative approach to web navigation, while privacy advocates have expressed concerns about the potential for data collection despite the company's privacy assurances. Some critics have questioned whether users will fully understand the implications of granting an AI browser such extensive permissions across their digital life.