Perplexity.
Kevin Wilson · Principal · New York
Perplexity is reinventing search — and you can own a piece while it's still private.
From a $121 million startup in 2023 to a reported ~$22.6 billion in early 2026. Singularity Ventures can place private shares with qualified individual investors — the kind of access that used to be reserved for institutions.
The market has flipped.
A generation ago, companies went public early and did their growing up in front of everyday investors. Today the opposite is true. The most valuable companies stay private for a decade or more — and the steepest part of the growth curve happens while the public is still locked out.
Companies stay private longer
Amazon went public about three years after founding. Today's leaders wait ten years or more.
Value moved to private markets
The compounding that once happened on public exchanges increasingly happens beforehand.
The IPO is now the exit
By the time shares trade publicly, much of the early upside is already priced in.
A private placement, plainly.
A private placement is the sale of shares in a company that isn't listed on any exchange — offered directly to a select group of qualified investors under SEC Regulation D, rather than to the open market. It is how the earliest, most sophisticated capital gets in.
For accredited investors
Reserved for individuals who meet SEC income or net-worth thresholds.
You buy at today's private price
The same shares the institutions are buying — before public demand sets the price.
You hold to a liquidity event
An IPO, an acquisition, or a secondary sale down the road.
Four reasons the private round is the better seat.
Early entry
A lower cost basis than public buyers will ever get on day one.
Asymmetric upside
A measured check into a category leader before it scales to its potential.
True access
Own companies that simply cannot be bought on any public exchange.
Good company
Invest alongside the institutions and operators already on the cap table.
The answer engine taking on Google.
Founded in 2022, Perplexity replaced the list of blue links with direct, cited answers. It is now among the fastest-growing software companies ever — and one of the few genuinely pressuring Google's grip on search. Founded by Aravind Srinivas (CEO), Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho and Andy Konwinski.
Answer engine + Sonar
Real-time, source-cited AI search — the core product.
Comet
An AI-native browser that runs multi-step tasks across the web.
Perplexity Computer
An agent that does the work, not just the searching.
From $121M to ~$22.6B in under three years.
Still private — but not forever.
A long private runway
Perplexity is reportedly planning a 2028 IPO. Until then, the private round is the only way in.
Every round reprices higher
Roughly $9B → $14B → $18B → $20B → $22.6B in about a year of successive rounds.
Revenue is compounding
ARR has grown faster than almost any company at this scale — and the model just got cleaner.
The smart money is already in.
What every investor should weigh honestly.
Fierce competition. Google's AI Overviews, OpenAI, and Microsoft are all fighting for AI search.
Legal overhang. Copyright and content-use disputes with publishers remain unresolved.
Rich valuation. Priced for continued hypergrowth; a market reset would hurt private marks.
Illiquid & speculative. Private stock can't be freely sold; you may hold for years, or lose it all.