Aravind Srinivas, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, has been named India's youngest billionaire on the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025. At the age of 31, Srinivas's net worth stands at ₹21,190 crore (approximately $2.5 billion USD), largely driven by the growth of his AI-powered search platform, Perplexity AI.
Born on June 7, 1994, in Chennai, India, Srinivas demonstrated an early aptitude for science. He pursued his undergraduate and master's degrees in electrical engineering at IIT Madras, where he also taught courses on reinforcement learning. He then earned a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021, specializing in areas like computer vision, reinforcement learning, and image and video generation.
Before co-founding Perplexity AI, Srinivas gained valuable experience at leading AI companies. He held research internships at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google Brain, contributing to projects such as DALL-E 2, a text-to-image generation model.
In August 2022, Srinivas, along with Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, founded Perplexity AI. Perplexity AI is a search engine that leverages artificial intelligence to deliver context-based and personalized answers. Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity AI aims to provide direct responses tailored to user queries by combining advanced machine learning with curated web data, including inline source citations. The platform has gained popularity for its ability to provide quick, accurate, and reliable answers, positioning itself as a competitor to Google Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT. As of 2025, Perplexity AI reported around 22 million active users worldwide. In May 2025, the company processed 780 million queries, experiencing over 20% month-over-month growth, which translates to roughly 30 million queries daily.
Perplexity AI differentiates itself through real-time search capabilities, source transparency, and direct answers. The platform provides citations for its information, allowing users to verify answers and understand their context.
Perplexity AI has attracted investments from notable figures and companies, including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Databricks. As of July 2025, the company was valued at $18 billion. In January 2025, Perplexity launched Perplexity Assistant, an AI-powered tool designed to enhance the functionality of its search engine and perform tasks across multiple apps. In late 2024, Perplexity launched a Shopping Hub, backed by Amazon and Nvidia. In October 2025, Perplexity AI acquired Visual Electric, an AI image and video generation startup, to create new consumer product experiences.
Srinivas's success has garnered attention, with the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025 highlighting India's shift from a service-centric economy to a deep-tech, product-led powerhouse. Srinivas's journey exemplifies how innovation and determination can lead to significant wealth creation. In addition to building Perplexity AI, Srinivas has invested in other AI startups, such as ElevenLabs and Suno.
Aravind Srinivas's emergence as India's youngest billionaire signifies the growing influence of AI and deep technology in the global economy. His success with Perplexity AI highlights the potential of Indian talent to compete on a global scale.
