Cristiano Ronaldo Invests in Perplexity: When Celebrities Bet on AI Startups

Hello HaWkers, an interesting piece of news crossed the worlds of football and technology this week: Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the greatest football players of all time, announced an investment in Perplexity, one of the most promising AI search startups in the market.

But what does this mean for the technology market? And why are more and more celebrities putting money into AI companies?

What is Perplexity

Before talking about the investment, it's worth understanding what makes Perplexity special in the AI landscape.

A New Way to Search for Information

Perplexity is a search company that uses artificial intelligence to answer questions conversationally, citing sources and offering a different experience from traditional Google.

What differentiates Perplexity:

Direct answers instead of a list of links
Source citation for each claim
Natural conversational interface
No intrusive ads
Focus on accuracy and verifiability

Comparison with traditional search engines:

Aspect	Google	Perplexity
Format	List of links	Direct answer
Sources	Links to verify	Inline citations
Model	Ad-based	Freemium/Pro
Experience	Navigate between sites	Single conversation
Update	Traditional index	Real-time with AI

Impressive Growth

Perplexity has shown accelerated growth in recent months:

Company numbers:

Current valuation: $9 billion
Monthly active users: 100+ million
Daily queries: 15+ million
MoM growth: 40%
Employees: ~200

Previous investors:

Bezos Expeditions (Jeff Bezos)
Nvidia
IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)
NEA
Databricks

Cristiano Ronaldo's Investment

Deal Details

Although specific amounts were not disclosed, some information was confirmed:

What we know:

Investment is part of a larger round
Ronaldo joins other high-profile investors
Athlete will receive minority stake in the company
Possible role as brand ambassador

Context of CR7's portfolio:

Hotels (Pestana CR7)
Gyms (CR7 Fitness)
Fashion (CR7 Underwear/Footwear)
Hair clinics (Insparya)
Now: AI Technology

Why Celebrities Invest in Tech

This move is part of a larger trend of celebrities diversifying investments into the technology sector.

The New Generation of Celebrity Investors

Other notable cases:

Ashton Kutcher: Uber, Airbnb, Spotify (A-Grade Investments)
Jay-Z: Uber, SpaceX (Marcy Venture Partners)
Serena Williams: Coinbase, Daily Harvest (Serena Ventures)
Kevin Durant: Postmates, Coinbase (Thirty Five Ventures)
LeBron James: Blaze Pizza, Lyft (SpringHill Company)

Motivations for Investing

Financial reasons:

Diversification beyond careers with expiration dates
Potentially higher returns than traditional investments
Access to exclusive deals due to fame
Protection against inflation and volatile markets

Strategic reasons:

Association with innovation and the future
Networking with other tech billionaires
Derived business opportunities
Learning about new industries

💡 Insight: For celebrities, investing in tech isn't just about money - it's about maintaining relevance and building legacy beyond their main careers.

The AI Search Market

Fierce Competition

Perplexity is competing in one of technology's most contested markets:

Main players:

Google (Gemini): Dominant incumbent with integrated AI
Microsoft (Copilot): Integration with Bing and Office products
OpenAI (ChatGPT): Leader in conversational AI, now with search
Anthropic (Claude): Focus on safety and precision
Perplexity: Exclusive focus on AI search

Estimated market share (AI search):

Google: 65%
ChatGPT/OpenAI: 15%
Perplexity: 8%
Microsoft Copilot: 7%
Others: 5%

Perplexity's Competitive Advantages

Technical differentiators:

Source citation as main feature
Model focused specifically on search
Clean interface without distractions
Real-time updates

Business model:

Generous free tier
Perplexity Pro: $20/month
Enterprise: custom pricing
No dependence on ads (for now)

What This Means for Developers

Opportunities in the AI Search Era

Growing areas:

AI search APIs (RAG - Retrieval Augmented Generation)
Citation and source verification tools
Plugins and integrations with AI search engines
SEO for AI (different strategies are needed)

Valued skills:

Experience with LLMs and embeddings
Knowledge of vector databases
Retrieval system architecture
Understanding of ranking and relevance

Changes in SEO

The rise of AI search engines is fundamentally changing how content is discovered:

Traditional SEO vs SEO for AI:

Traditional SEO	SEO for AI
Keywords in titles	Authoritative content
Backlinks	Citations in answers
High CTR	Being cited source
Position #1 in ranking	Appearing in synthesis
Meta descriptions	Verifiable facts

What to prioritize:

Factual and verifiable content
Clear information structure
Updated and accurate data
Authority on the subject
Technical accessibility (schema markup, etc.)

The Celebrity-Tech Investment Phenomenon

Successes and Failures

Success cases:

Ashton Kutcher: 250x ROI on Uber
Jay-Z: Uber stake worth ~$100M
Kobe Bryant: Bryant Stibel with multiple exits
Joe Montana: Investments in Pinterest, Nest

Less successful cases:

50 Cent: Vitamin water investments (SK Energy)
Lindsay Lohan: Adventures in NFTs and crypto
Various athletes: Losses in failed startups

Market Lessons

What works:

Investing in funds managed by professionals
Focusing on sectors they understand (even superficially)
Having specialized financial advisors
Diversifying across multiple startups

What doesn't work:

Investing based only on FOMO
Over-trusting their own "business instinct"
Concentrating on a single bet
Ignoring due diligence

Perplexity's Future

Challenges Ahead

Obstacles to overcome:

Competition with Google, which dominates 92% of the market
AI inference cost is still high
Monetization without compromising experience
Evolving AI regulation

Open questions:

How to compete with limited resources vs Big Tech?
Will an ad model eventually be necessary?
Partnerships or acquisition on the horizon?
International expansion?

Positive Perspectives

Favorable factors:

Growing dissatisfaction with Google (too many ads)
Preference for direct answers vs navigation
Gen Z more open to new search engines
Generative AI increasingly capable

Possible scenarios:

IPO in the next 2-3 years
Acquisition by Big Tech (Microsoft? Apple?)
Consolidation as leader in AI search
Expansion to other AI products

Conclusion

Cristiano Ronaldo's investment in Perplexity is more than a curiosity from the celebrity world - it's an indicator of the growing importance of AI in the collective imagination and investment market.

For developers, the message is clear: the search market is transforming, and those who understand the nuances of AI search, RAG, and new content discovery strategies will have significant advantages.

Perplexity may not dethrone Google, but it's helping redefine what we expect from a search experience. And that, by itself, is already a valuable contribution to the technology ecosystem.

If you want to understand more about movements in the AI market, I recommend checking out the article Snowflake and Anthropic Close $200 Million Deal which shows another major movement in the sector.