Perplexity收入摸底：高增长的背后其实是高投入，快扛不住了

Core Viewpoint - Perplexity, positioning itself as a challenger to Google, has shown impressive revenue growth in the past two years, but increasing cost pressures and a reliance on subsidies for growth raise concerns about its long-term sustainability [1][2]. Financial Performance - Perplexity generated $34 million in revenue in 2024 but incurred a cash burn of approximately $65 million, primarily due to significant investments in cloud servers and AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI [3][5]. - The company provided around $27 million in discounts to attract users, which nearly consumed half of its subscription revenue [5]. - As of the end of 2024, Perplexity had about 1.6 million subscribers, with approximately 260,000 being paid users, representing 16% of the total [5][11]. - The gross margin for Perplexity was around 60%, which, while lower than the initially projected 75%, was still higher than the 40% gross margin of OpenAI and Anthropic during the same period [5][17]. Cost Structure - Perplexity's expenses included approximately $8 million in API fees to OpenAI and Anthropic, over $15 million in Amazon Web Services costs, and more than $33 million in web services for free and trial users [9][5]. - The company’s total cash consumption for 2024 was about $65 million, significantly exceeding its revenue [5]. User Engagement and Market Position - Perplexity's monthly query volume reached approximately 460 million by December last year, a fivefold increase from the previous year, but still significantly lower than competitors like ChatGPT and Google [12]. - Despite rapid growth, Perplexity's user base and engagement metrics remain far behind those of its competitors, with ChatGPT processing at least 25 times more daily search requests than Perplexity [12]. Revenue Diversification Efforts - The company is exploring new revenue streams through advertising and e-commerce, although these efforts have so far yielded minimal revenue [13][16]. - Perplexity began running ads alongside search results and has initiated e-commerce features, but advertising revenue was only about $20,000 in the fourth quarter [16]. Investment and Future Outlook - Perplexity is in discussions for a new funding round of $500 million, aiming for a valuation of $14 billion, marking its fourth funding round in 13 months [3][5]. - The company has also acquired other startups to strengthen its engineering team and is actively seeking to diversify its revenue sources [4][5].