**Perplexity’s CEO Aravind Srinivas has repeatedly and explicitly committed to a 2028 IPO at the earliest, most recently in a June 2026 CNBC interview where he described the timeline as fixed regardless of OpenAI or Anthropic filings.** This stance, first signaled in 2025, underpins the 64% market-implied probability of no IPO before 2028 by showing management’s deliberate choice to remain private while peers test public-market appetite for AI companies. The company’s private valuation has stabilized near $20 billion following its September 2025 Series E round, with secondary markets reflecting roughly $19.7–20 billion as of October 2026. Revenue momentum—annualized run rate reaching approximately $750 million by August 2026, up sharply from late 2025—has extended its funding runway and reduced pressure to list early. Rumors of a potential Nvidia-led round above $30 billion surfaced in August 2026 but remain unconfirmed, further supporting a patient approach. Traders appear to view the 2028 target as credible given consistent executive messaging, ample capital, and the strategic logic of observing how larger AI IPOs (OpenAI, Anthropic) perform before Perplexity enters the market. Lower-probability buckets for a 2026–2027 IPO at various market caps reflect residual uncertainty around execution or market conditions, but the dominant outcome aligns with the company’s stated plan and current private-market trajectory.