Taz Patel, head of advertising and shopping at the AI search startup Perplexity, has left the company after nine months, the startup confirmed to ADWEEK.
Patel joined Perplexity in December 2024, and was tasked with building out the 3-year-old startup’s fledgling ads business. He was previously chief revenue officer and co-founder of the influencer-marketing firm Captiv8, which was acquired by Publicis Groupe in May of this year.
Perplexity declined to comment on who, if anyone, would replace Patel. Patel did not respond to requests for comment.
“It’s been great to have Taz on our team, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” Ryan Foutty, Perplexity’s vp of business told ADWEEK in a statement. “Perplexity is driven by velocity and curiosity, so our work continues unchanged and we still partner with the world’s best marketers and merchants who want to experiment and develop the best consumer experiences for the AI age.”
ADWEEK first reported on Perplexity’s advertising ambitions in April last year. Since then, the company has brought on a handful of brands and agencies—including TurboTax, Indeed, Whole Foods, Universal McCann and PMG—to test sponsored ads on its U.S. platform.
Perplexity, which raised $100 million in July, is valued at about $18 billion. The company’s ad business reportedly generated only about $20,000 in Q4 last year, though it has also expanded into online shopping, allowing users to buy products surfaced in search through PayPal and Venmo.
CEO Aravind Srinivas said in March that Perplexity had surpassed $100 million in annualized revenue, up 25% from January. To reach new users, the company spent nearly $10 million last year—about half its payroll expenses—on sales and marketing, including its first national TV campaign during ABC’s broadcast of the 2024 NBA Finals, according to The Information. Perplexity also spent almost $5 million on legal fees.
Perplexity has also experimented with unconventional ways to reach new users, including partnering with video podcasts and streaming shows from Theo Von and Ben Shapiro to answer real-time questions.
The New York Times has warned Perplexity to stop using its content, and earlier this month Japanese publishers Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun filed a joint lawsuit making similar claims of copyright infringement.
Perplexity this week announced plans to share 80% of revenue from Comet Plus, its browser-based subscription product, with publishers—part of its effort to secure licensing deals amid these mounting legal challenges.
Correction, August 29 at 12:25 p.m. ET: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that The New York Times had sued Perplexity. It had warned the company of legal action in a cease-and-desist letter.
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