Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has confirmed that the company is planning to go public in 2028, regardless of how the market receives the upcoming IPOs of Anthropic and OpenAI. Srinivas stated, 'Agnostic of these two companies, we were planning for something in 2028 so that still remains the case,' indicating a firm timeline for Perplexity's public listing [1]. This announcement follows news that Anthropic, developer of Claude, confidentially filed for an IPO last week, with its last valuation reportedly near $1 trillion. OpenAI is also said to be preparing for an IPO, though specific details on share pricing are not available [1].
Srinivas commented on the broader market context, noting that the listings of Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX this week are expected to be among the largest in history and will test investor appetite for mega-IPOs. He emphasized the importance of these IPOs succeeding for the AI industry, stating, 'I actually think they will go well, because they're doing well.' However, he acknowledged potential ripple effects if these IPOs do not perform as expected, with the SpaceX IPO serving as a leading indicator for the others [1].
Investor scrutiny is focused on the high valuations of Anthropic and OpenAI, which are considered frontier labs due to their advanced AI models. Srinivas believes these companies deserve their valuations, but cautioned that a slowdown in innovation could negatively impact them. He explained, 'If for six months you don't see a model capability advance from one of these two companies, then it's a problem for them,' though he sees no signs of such stagnation currently [1].
Enterprise spending on AI is also in the spotlight, following OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's remarks that AI costs are a 'huge issue.' Srinivas described a trend called 'tokenmaxxing,' where employees increase AI usage to signal productivity, but stressed that users prefer the best model for each task, factoring in cost. Perplexity's product leverages models from various companies, optimizing for both performance and cost. Srinivas noted, 'If there is an open source model that gets the job done 90% of the time, I'd probably use that if it's 10 to 20 times cheaper than the frontier model,' suggesting a shift away from indiscriminate spending toward more strategic AI adoption [1].
CONCLUSION
Perplexity's commitment to a 2028 IPO underscores confidence in its long-term strategy, independent of market reactions to Anthropic and OpenAI's listings. The AI sector faces heightened scrutiny over valuations and spending, but industry leaders remain optimistic about continued innovation and successful IPOs. Investors will closely watch upcoming mega-IPOs as indicators for the broader AI market.