Perplexity Could Have Been Built in India

AIM recently estimated the cost of setting up an AI research startup in India. For the seed stage, $5 million to $10 million is decent, but it’s nowhere near enough for something like OpenAI or even Perplexity AI. 

Perplexity AI had raised $15 million in its seed funding round when it was just a six-month old company. Besides, it did not spend time training its own AI model, but instead chose to build a fantastic Google Search competitor around the existing LLMs in the market.

Regarding the funding, Abhishek Upperwal, the founder of Soket AI Labs told us that an ideal amount to do a lot of foundational work in AI at the seed stage is anywhere around $7-15 million.