Asia Tech Wire (Oct 21) -- AI startup Perplexity has begun funding talks in hopes of more than doubling its valuation to $8 billion or more, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report said Perplexity has told investors that the company plans to raise about $500 million in a new round of funding.

However, the report noted that the terms of the financing could change and the financing may not be forthcoming.

A few months ago, SoftBank Group's Vision Fund 2 invested in Perplexity at a valuation of $3 billion.

And previously, the U.S. startup also received investments from Nvidia and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.