速递｜Perplexity折扣吞噬近半营收，增长代价高昂，AI搜索的"补贴大战"能持续多久？

Core Insights - Perplexity, an AI-driven search engine, has rapidly increased its subscription revenue and user base despite fierce competition from free AI search tools like Google and OpenAI [2][4] - The company generated $34 million in revenue last year, processing only 1/25 of OpenAI's search volume and 1/900 of Google's [3][11] - Perplexity is negotiating a $500 million funding round at a $14 billion valuation, marking its fourth funding round in a year [4][12] Financial Performance - The company provided approximately $27 million in discounts, primarily to consumer subscribers, reducing total revenue to about $34 million [8] - Perplexity spent over $57 million on AI model costs and cloud services, resulting in a cash burn of around $65 million [4][8] - The company has around 200 employees and spent over $15 million on Amazon Web Services [8][14] User Growth and Engagement - As of the end of 2024, nearly 260,000 users (16% of 1.6 million subscribers) are paying for the service [10] - Perplexity's search engine processed approximately 460 million queries monthly, a fivefold increase year-over-year [11] - The company aims to differentiate itself by expanding its product line and introducing a browser named Comet [12] Revenue Streams and Future Opportunities - Perplexity's annualized revenue has surpassed $100 million, with a monthly income of $8.3 million, a 25% increase since January [12] - The company is exploring advertising and e-commerce opportunities, having generated about $20,000 from its advertising business in Q4 [12][13] - Perplexity has begun allowing users to purchase products directly through its search engine, indicating a shift towards online shopping [13] Cost Management and Profitability - Despite high expenditures, Perplexity maintains a gross margin of around 60%, slightly below its previous target of 75% [14] - The accounting treatment of costs for non-paying users contributes to its gross margin, as these costs are classified as R&D expenses [15]