Perplexity, an AI-based search engine, is reportedly planning to raise approximately $500 million, catapulting its valuation to about $8 billion, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Should a deal transpire under such conditions, it would significantly magnify Perplexity’s worth, over twice its $3 billion valuation after its fundraising from SoftBank in the previous summer. Presently, the company fields nearly 15 million inquiries daily and garners an estimated $50 million in yearly revenue, as stated by WSJ.

Perplexity leverages AI technology to facilitate web searches through a conversational interface, akin to a chatbot. The company has faced criticism from several news publishers for alleged unauthorized web data extraction and duplication. The New York Times, in fact, has issued a cease-and-desist order to Perplexity. Despite this, CEO Aravind Srinivas has expressed his willingness to collaborate with publishers, stating he has “no intention of being a foe in this scenario.”

The news of these fundraising negotiations follows the announcement of OpenAI’s successful $6.6 billion fundraising at a valuation of $157 billion. Products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT have muddied the boundaries between chatbot and search engine, with the company now venturing directly into the search domain with SearchGPT.

Perplexity has yet to comment on TechCrunch’s request for remarks on the matter.