Fireflies hits $1 bn valuation, adds real-time search with Perplexity

Voice assistant expands features with Perplexity tie-up as Fireflies crosses $1 bn valuation and sees sharp growth in enterprise AI-powered meeting productivity tools

Fireflies.ai, the artificial intelligence meeting assistant used by employees at three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies, has surpassed a $1 billion valuation following its inaugural tender offer, according to chief executive and co-founder Krish Ramineni.

 

Alongside this milestone, the company announced a partnership with AI search startup Perplexity, aiming to integrate real-time, voice-activated web search into its platform.

 

The new feature, dubbed “Talk to Fireflies”, allows users to query the internet during meetings without leaving the conversation—a move Fireflies says will streamline access to external information in live discussions.

 

The valuation and product update highlight the growing demand for productivity tools that blend generative AI with enterprise workflows.

 

The tender offer provides liquidity to early team members who have been with the company for years, reflecting Fireflies' commitment to rewarding those instrumental in building the company. This milestone comes as Fireflies maintains profitability since 2023—a rarity among AI startups—while sustaining triple-digit year-on-year growth without raising primary capital since 2021. The firm is backed by investors such as Khosla Ventures and Canaan Partners. It has processed over 2 billion meeting minutes. However, the company did not reveal financial details.

 

The tender offer was initiated to provide liquidity to early employees—approximately 15 per cent of the team—who had remained with the company for several years.

 

“We said we're not raising new capital but we can still really reward the teammates that have been here,” said Ramineni, adding that the initiative mirrors similar moves by OpenAI and Anthropic to reward early contributors while remaining private.

 

“Reaching this significant valuation milestone while remaining profitable validates our approach to building an AI company differently from the conventional ‘raise big, burn fast’ playbook,” said Ramineni. “This coincides with a larger product evolution that will change how people experience meetings.”

 

Fireflies has quietly become one of the fastest-growing productivity platforms, serving 20 million people across more than 500,000 organisations globally. Over the past 18 months, user growth has surged eightfold, driven by demand for AI tools that streamline meetings, automate workflows and unlock institutional knowledge.

 

“We’ve been growing triple digits since 2020,” Ramineni said. “Covid obviously accelerated the business.”

 

The company’s platform, which captures and analyses conversations, has now taken notes for tens of millions of users globally—approaching one crore in India alone, across 50,000 businesses.

 

India has emerged as a key growth market, where the company has doubled its revenue in the past year. “Three out of five unicorns in India have employees using Fireflies,” Ramineni said, highlighting the product’s penetration. Language support is also expanding to accommodate regional demand.

Partnership with Perplexity

In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Fireflies has integrated Perplexity’s web search technology, allowing users to pose questions and receive real-time, internet-sourced answers without leaving their meetings.

 

“At Perplexity, we're focused on bringing accurate, real-time answers to people wherever and whenever they’re making decisions,” said Dmitry Shevelenko, chief business officer at Perplexity. “Meetings are where critical decisions happen, but they're often information-poor environments. By integrating Perplexity's search capabilities into Fireflies, we're eliminating the need to switch contexts or postpone decisions as workers move to question-first problem-solving,” Shevelenko added.

 

Unlike similar features restricted to paid tiers or specific platforms, “Talk to Fireflies” with Perplexity search is available to all Fireflies users—including those on free plans. It works seamlessly across Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

 

“Talk to Fireflies lets people search the web in real time and get answers about the current meeting. For example, a late joiner can ask, ‘Hey Fireflies, what key decisions have been made so far?’ or a team can find information by asking, ‘Hey Fireflies, what are the market growth projections for AI meeting agents?’” said Ramineni. “This turns Fireflies into your most knowledgeable teammate.”

 

Fireflies said it plans to initiate more frequent tender offers, with a focus on active employees. The move is aimed at reinforcing long-term equity ownership among staff.

 

The company is also advancing its product roadmap with a new slate of AI-powered features, including autonomous voice agents capable of attending meetings on behalf of users, and expanded “Talk to Fireflies” functionality. Future upgrades will allow users to search across their entire meeting history, Fireflies said.

 

The developments signal a shift toward more agentic AI tools, which the company says will reshape how teams collaborate and make decisions.