Google DeepMind vs Perplexity AI: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Google DeepMind had ~$2B of annual revenue in FY2023. Perplexity AI had $80M (unaudited) of annual revenue in FY2025.
Latest financial snapshot
Google DeepMind
- Latest annual revenue
- ~$2B (FY2023)
- Net income
- Unavailable here
- Net margin
- —
- Revenue growth
- +22.8% a year, FY2020–FY2023
Perplexity AI
- Latest annual revenue
- $80M (unaudited) (FY2025)
- Net income
- Unavailable here
- Net margin
- —
- Revenue growth
- —
Financial summary
Google DeepMind
Alphabet does not report Google DeepMind separately. The best public data comes from DeepMind Technologies Limited's UK accounts, which show revenue, mostly R&D fees charged to other Alphabet companies, rising from ~$1.09 billion (£826 million) in 2020 to ~$1.8 billion (£1.365 billion) in 2021, dipping to ~$1.43 billion (£1.081 billion) in 2022 and reaching about $2.02 billion (£1.53 billion) in 2023, with pre-tax profit of ~$196 million (£148.4 million) that year. These numbers measure Alphabet's internal funding of the lab rather than the commercial value of Gemini, which Google earns through Search, subscriptions and Cloud. Google DeepMind operates as a crown jewel subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., heavily driving Google's multi-trillion dollar market capitalization.
Perplexity AI
Perplexity has experienced exponential revenue expansion since commercializing in 2023. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew from roughly $5 million in late 2023 to $35 million in mid-2024 and exceeded $80 million by late 2025. The company raised a $73.6 million Series B in January 2024 ($520 million valuation), a $62.7 million round in April 2024 ($1.04 billion valuation), a $250 million round in June 2024 ($3 billion valuation), and a funding round in late 2024 that pushed its private valuation to $9 billion.
Revenue and profit by year
Google DeepMind
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | ~$2B | — | — | +41.6% | Source |
| FY2022 | ~$1.4B | — | — | -20.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | ~$1.8B | — | — | +65.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | ~$1.1B | — | — | — | Source |
Perplexity AI
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 (unaudited) | $80M | — | — | — | |
| FY2024 (unaudited) | $35M | — | — | — | |
| FY2023 (unaudited) | $5M | — | — | — |
Where the revenue comes from
Google DeepMind
- R&D services to Alphabet companies
Not formally reported
DeepMind Technologies Limited's reported revenue comes mainly from research and development services billed to other Alphabet group companies.
- Gemini in Google products (booked by Google)
Not formally reported
Search ads supported by AI Overviews and AI Mode, Gemini app and Google One AI subscriptions, Workspace, and Gemini APIs on Google Cloud. Alphabet does not disclose how much of this is attributable to Google DeepMind.
Perplexity AI
- Core Artificial Intelligence, Conversational Search & Information Retrieval Platform Operations
~52% of Total Net Revenue
Direct software licensing, subscription access, platform usage fees, or primary transaction commissions derived from Perplexity AI, Inc.'s flagship offerings.
- Enterprise Solutions & Value-Added Services
~31% of Total Net Revenue
Custom enterprise deployments, premium capability tiers, specialized API integrations, and dedicated technical client support.
- Ancillary Services & Strategic Ecosystem Billing
~17% of Total Net Revenue
Complementary service fees, partner ecosystem revenue sharing, financing fees, and transactional processing services.
Business model and strategy
Google DeepMind
How it makes money
Google DeepMind does not sell products under its own name. It is a cost center inside Alphabet that builds the models Google monetizes: Gemini powers AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search (supporting ad revenue), the Gemini app and Google One AI subscriptions, Gemini for Workspace, and pay-per-token Gemini APIs on Google AI Studio and Vertex AI in Google Cloud.
Growth strategy
The lab's priority is staying at the frontier with Gemini, including Gemini 3 and the Gemini 4 generation Hassabis mentioned in August 2026, while pushing Flash models and Gemma open models to developers. Under Koray Kavukcuoglu it is more tightly tied to Google's product teams, with Hassabis focusing on AGI strategy and Isomorphic Labs' drug discovery work.
Competitive advantage
Google DeepMind's main edge is the full Google stack around it: in-house TPU chips, Google Cloud, and distribution through Search, Android, YouTube and Workspace. It also has a deep research bench and a record of scientific results, from AlphaGo to the Nobel-winning AlphaFold, that few rivals can match.
Perplexity AI
How it makes money
Perplexity AI operates a multi-tiered subscription and enterprise monetization model. In consumer subscription revenue, Perplexity Pro charges $20 per month or $200 annually, granting users access to frontier foundation models (OpenAI o1/GPT-4o, Anthropic Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and proprietary Sonar models), unlimited file uploads, and advanced visual generation.
Growth strategy
Perplexity drives customer acquisition through mobile app distribution, telecom carrier distribution partnerships (including major distribution bundles with SoftBank in Japan and Deutsche Telekom in Europe), and viral social sharing of Perplexity Pages.
Competitive advantage
Perplexity's core economic moat is its specialized retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architecture and neutral multi-model orchestration layer. Unlike Google or Microsoft, which are incentivized to protect legacy ad-clicking real estate and push proprietary ecosystems, Perplexity is built entirely around direct factual synthesis with clickable inline citations.
Questions about Google DeepMind vs Perplexity AI
Which company has higher revenue — Google DeepMind or Perplexity AI, Inc.?
Google DeepMind had ~$2B (FY2023), while Perplexity AI, Inc. had $80.0M (unaudited) (FY2025). By latest annual revenue, Google DeepMind is the larger business, with Perplexity AI, Inc. showing a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
How does revenue per employee compare for Google DeepMind and Perplexity AI, Inc.?
Perplexity AI, Inc. generates $364k / employee in revenue per employee. A comparable figure for Google DeepMind requires matching employee and revenue data from the same reporting period.
How do Google DeepMind and Perplexity AI, Inc. make money?
Google DeepMind and Perplexity AI, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Google DeepMind: Google DeepMind does not sell products under its own name. Perplexity AI, Inc.: Perplexity AI operates a multi-tiered subscription and enterprise monetization model.
Is Google DeepMind bigger than Perplexity AI, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Google DeepMind (~$2B (FY2023)) is the larger company compared to Perplexity AI, Inc. ($80.0M (unaudited) (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Google DeepMind vs Perplexity AI overview