Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas: The boy who turned his mother's IIT dream into a billion‑dollar AI company

Time of India

4 days ago

In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, few stories stand out quite like that of
Aravind Srinivas
. In just under three years, he helped build
Perplexity AI
from an idea into one of the most talked-about startups in the tech ecosystem. As of July 2025, the company's valuation had soared to $18 billion, driven by a series of breakthrough innovations and strategic partnerships, including a major deal with Bharti Airtel. That collaboration is set to give over 360 million Indian users free access to Perplexity Pro, drastically increasing the platform's reach and cementing its global presence. Behind this remarkable ascent is the vision of a young man who channeled his mother's dream into an empire and redefined how the world interacts with information.
Aravind Srinivas' transformative vision grounded in a mother's dream
Aravind Srinivas was born on June 7, 1994, in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu. His earliest influence wasn't a coding bootcamp or a Silicon Valley pitch deck, but his own mother. Each time they passed by the gates of
IIT Madras
, she would point and tell him, 'You will study there one day.' That quiet repetition evolved into a shared dream—hers of opportunity, and his of purpose.
Academically gifted from a young age, Aravind's achievements spoke volumes. He secured the National Talent Search Scholarship and earned a merit certificate in the Indian National Mathematical Olympiad. These recognitions were more than just medals; they were stepping stones to IIT Madras, where he graduated in 2017 with dual degrees in Electrical Engineering.
Ironically, despite his growing interest in computer science and machine learning,
Aravind
couldn't switch to a CS major due to a marginally lower GPA. But that didn't stop him. He taught himself Python, followed online AI courses, competed on Kaggle, and gained mentorship under Professor Balaraman Ravindran, a pivotal figure in his intellectual development. A brief internship under AI legend Yoshua Bengio further ignited his academic trajectory, eventually leading him to a PhD at UC Berkeley, specializing in
machine learning
and artificial intelligence.
From academic frustration to AI revolution: the birth of Perplexity
While pursuing his PhD, Aravind began to question the limitations of traditional search engines. Why were users still forced to dig through pages of links when machines were already capable of nuanced understanding and delivering direct answers? That dissatisfaction gave birth to a radical idea: a conversational answer engine powered by large language models (LLMs) that could provide real-time, cited, and context-aware responses.
In August 2022, alongside Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, Aravind co-founded Perplexity AI in San Francisco. The team combined their technical expertise with a shared vision for transparent, user-friendly, AI-driven search.
Their approach was novel. They prioritized trust, transparency, and clarity, avoiding the opaque algorithms of legacy platforms. By April 2024, Perplexity had raised $165 million, achieving unicorn status with a valuation of $1 billion. Just a year later, the firm reached $14 billion, and by July 2025, another $100 million funding round pushed its value to $18 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing AI companies in history.
Scaling AI for the masses while rewriting the rules of search
What truly set Perplexity apart was its ability to grow both in technology and scale without compromising its core vision. In May 2025, Aravind's team signed a groundbreaking partnership with Bharti Airtel, bringing Perplexity Pro to 360 million Indian users via the Airtel Thanks app.
Perplexity Pro now offers access to top-tier AI models like GPT‑4.1, Claude, image generation, and their newly launched AI browser, Comet, which handles complex web tasks via voice or text. Monthly search queries surged past 780 million, with more than 30 million active users, and an astonishing 20 percent month-on-month growth rate. Revenue, which stood at $35 million in 2024, was projected to cross an annualized $150 million by mid-2025.
New features rolled out rapidly:
enterprise offerings, publisher revenue-sharing models, and real-time knowledge tools that go beyond what traditional search ever aimed for. The launch of Comet, a voice-first AI browser capable of summarizing posts, shopping, or composing emails, has redefined user expectations of online assistance.
Staying independent in the age of AI giants
In an industry dominated by trillion-dollar tech giants, staying independent is no easy feat. Aravind Srinivas has already turned down acquisition interest from major players like Apple and Meta, signaling that Perplexity intends to build its own destiny. The company is laying the groundwork for a future public offering, likely after 2028, while expanding its presence across mobile, enterprise, and global education ecosystems.
Yet through all the milestones, what remains unchanged is Aravind's clarity of vision. From his mother's voice in a Chennai bus to leading one of the world's most dynamic AI companies, his journey is a rare blend of family legacy, technical brilliance, and unrelenting drive.
As Perplexity continues to reshape how the world accesses and understands knowledge, Aravind Srinivas stands as a symbol of the power of self-belief and how a single dream, once whispered by a mother, can echo across the digital age.
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