Perplexity Taps PayPal for Agentic Transactions
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
From this summer, PayPal will become the transaction engine behind Perplexity Pro, enabling users in the U.S. to complete purchases directly from a single query. Whether it’s booking travel, buying tickets, or searching for everyday products, consumers will be able to check out with PayPal or Venmo, without ever leaving the chat interface.
PayPal will handle payments, shipping, tracking, and invoicing. By linking user accounts and using tokenized wallets and passkey flows, the process is designed to be seamless and potentially password-free.
The integration builds on Perplexity’s entry into e-commerce, which began last year through merchant partnerships, including with Shopify. With this move, its commerce capabilities will reach PayPal’s 430+ million active accounts across nearly 200 markets. Positioned against OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, Perplexity is doubling down on a shopping experience driven by dialogue rather than traditional navigation.
For PayPal, it’s part of a broader strategy to become a core payments partner in AI-native platforms. In April, Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal all announced new tools aimed at embedding AI into digital transactions. Each move reflects growing urgency to define the next generation of checkout.
“This partnership unlocks new possibilities, where conversations now drive commerce,” said Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal. “We’re making it easy and secure to shop right in the chat when inspiration strikes. It’s a powerful step in making conversational commerce a reality.”
The announcement comes as Perplexity moves to close a $500 million funding round at a $14 billion valuation, after initially targeting $18 billion.
Read more global FinTech industry updates below 👇 and I'll be back with more tomorrow!
Cheers,
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