Asia Tech Wire (June 27) -- Japan's SoftBank Group will invest up to $20 million in U.S. artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity, according to Bloomberg.

SoftBank Vision Fund 2 will invest between $10 million and $20 million in Perplexity, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The deal, valuing Perplexity at $3 billion, followed SoftBank's announcement this month that it had entered into a strategic partnership with Perplexity.

Under the partnership, SoftBank will offer one year of free access to Perplexity Pro, a paid subscription service, to select users.