Perplexity and PayPal team up for seamless checkout experience

Call it “Buy on My Behalf,” or…BOMB?

Perplexity AI is expanding its capabilities through a new partnership with PayPal that will transform how consumers shop online. This collaboration represents a significant advancement in agentic commerce, where AI assistants don’t just recommend products but can complete transactions on users’ behalf. The integration will allow millions of PayPal and Venmo users to make purchases directly through Perplexity’s interface, potentially reshaping e-commerce by eliminating traditional checkout barriers.

The big picture: Perplexity AI has formed a strategic partnership with PayPal to enable direct purchasing capabilities within its chat interface, strengthening its position in the emerging agentic commerce market.

How it works: Starting this summer in the United States, users can complete purchases through PayPal or Venmo when asking Perplexity Pro to find products, book travel, or buy tickets.

• The entire transaction process—from payment to invoicing—will happen seamlessly in the background through PayPal’s account linking technology.
• The integration aims to eliminate password requirements and streamline the shopping experience to “a single user query or click,” according to Perplexity.

Market reach: The partnership will extend Perplexity’s commerce tools to PayPal’s massive user base of more than 430 million active accounts across nearly 200 markets worldwide.

Company background: Perplexity provides internet search capabilities similar to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, with notable backers including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, chip manufacturer Nvidia, and SoftBank Group.

Financial outlook: According to a Wall Street Journal report, Perplexity is in advanced discussions to secure $500 million in funding that would value the AI startup at $14 billion.