Aravind Srinivas is the Chennai-born cofounder and CEO of Perplexity AI, the “answer engine” competing with Google by serving sourced, real-time responses. He’s in the news for debuting as India’s youngest billionaire on the 2025 M3M Hurun India Rich List and for Perplexity’s rapid global growth, including a major partnership with Airtel in India. Srinivas completed a PhD at UC Berkeley under AI luminary Pieter Abbeel before stints at OpenAI, Google Brain, and DeepMind an academic pedigree that shaped Perplexity’s research-first DNA. An interesting fact is that despite graduating from IIT Madras with a dual degree in Electrical Engineering, he taught himself the fundamentals of AI and computer science, overcoming an initial academic setback that prevented him from switching majors.
Key Information
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Aravind Srinivas |
| Profession | Entrepreneur, AI researcher; Cofounder and CEO, Perplexity AI |
| Known For | Building Perplexity AI, a citation-first answer engine; global interviews on the future of search |
| Age | 31 (as of October 2025) |
| Date of Birth | 7 June 1994 |
| Zodiac Sign | Gemini |
| Years Active | 2016–present |
| Hometown | Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India |
| Current Residence | San Francisco Bay Area, USA |
| Religion | Hindu |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Educational Qualification | Dual Degree (B.Tech and M.Tech) in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras; PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley |
| Hobbies | Reading tech history, long-form podcasts, public speaking with students and builders |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Wife | Sharmada Vishwanath |
| Children | NA |
Early Life and Education
Aravind Srinivas was born on June 7, 1994, and grew up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His childhood was heavily influenced by his mother’s deep aspiration for him to attend a top engineering school; he often recounts her pointing at the IIT Madras campus and declaring, “This is where you’re going to study.”
He achieved that dream, completing a Dual Degree (B.Tech + M.Tech) in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras in 2017. However, his early ambition was initially challenged: he was unable to switch his major to Computer Science due to a small grade point difference, a setback that reportedly led to a brief period of disappointment. This struggle fueled his dedication to self-study, where he taught himself Python and excelled in machine learning competitions like Kaggle. This self-driven path ultimately led him to a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the prestigious University of California, Berkeley, focusing on cutting-edge research like Representation Learning.
Relationship
- Current Partner: He is married to Sharmada Vishwanath. While Aravind himself rarely discusses his personal life, he publicly confirmed the existence of his wife in a March 2025 podcast, emphasizing the moral support she provides.
- Relationship Details: Sharmada Vishwanath is reportedly a professional involved in Indian classical dance, music, and entertainment. The couple is believed to have been married in November 2021. Srinivas has credited his wife with keeping him grounded, noting that when he feels “on top of the world,” she is the one who brings him “back to earth.”
- Past Relationships: Public information on his past dating history remains completely private and unverified.
- Lifestyle Insights: His public image is one of intense focus and ambition. He attributes his ability to run a company like Perplexity AI to the support system provided by his parents and his wife, who “took care of the other stuff” so he could concentrate on his work. Srinivas is known for his intense work ethic, often stating he enjoys working hard. He is based in Silicon Valley and is a vocal advocate for Indian founders building global-scale, meritocratic companies. He has mentioned Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO) acts as a mentor and sounding board for his vision.
Family Background
- Mother: Srinivas’s mother works for the central government. She was a key motivator for his academic pursuits. On a podcast with entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath, Srinivas recalled that whenever they passed the IIT Madras campus on a bus, his mother would point to it and say, “This is where you’re going to study”.
- Father: His father worked as a financial accountant.
- First engineer: Srinivas’s family background is in finance and accounting, and he is the first engineer in his extended family. This was an unexpected revelation to Kamath during their podcast, as people in India often assume Tamil families have a strong orientation toward engineering careers.
- Wife: Srinivas is married, and his wife provides significant moral support. He has not publicly revealed her name.
Controversies
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Attribution and crawling debate (2024): Perplexity faced media scrutiny about how AI search should attribute sources and respect publisher settings. Srinivas disputed several characterizations, emphasized improvements, and called for clearer norms in AI-era search.
- CEO Stance: His strong public statements urging Indian entrepreneurs to aim for building “the next Google” rather than just managing existing large companies has been a major talking point in the Indian tech media.
- Immigration Debate: In late 2024, Srinivas generated buzz on social media after openly tweeting about his long wait for a US Green Card, even getting a public response from Elon Musk. This sparked a debate on the challenges faced by skilled immigrants in Silicon Valley, which Srinivas acknowledged, while maintaining that the ecosystem remains “absolutely meritocratic.”
Net worth
The Aravind Srinivas net worth has seen a massive jump due to the high valuation of Perplexity AI.
- Estimated Net Worth: ₹21,190 crore (Approx. $2.54 Billion) as of October 2025, based on the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2025.
- Main Sources of Income: Primary source of wealth is his significant equity and stake in Perplexity AI, Inc. (valued at approximately $18-20 Billion by July 2025). Additional income comes from his salary as CEO and profits from his angel investments in other AI startups.
Social Media Presence
| Platform | Username / Handle | Followers |
|---|---|---|
| @aravindsrinivas | ~88,700 | |
| @AravSrinivas | ~300,800 | |
| Scholar | Aravind Srinivas | NA |
| Aravind Srinivas | ~637,133 |
Lesser Known Facts
- Early Academic Setback: He was denied a major switch to Computer Science at IIT Madras by just CGPA, which pushed him to self-teach.
- Mentorship: His mother’s intense belief in the IIT Madras dream was a primary motivator for his early academic life.
- Guilty Pleasure: He once mentioned that his mother initially wanted him to “get a job at Google,” but he felt a stronger call to build a competitor.
- AI Pioneer Recognition: He secured his first internship at OpenAI in 2018 after being recognized by John Schulman, one of the inventors of ChatGPT.
- Research Output: During his time at IIT Madras, he was already publishing papers in top AI conferences like ICLR and NeurIPS.
- Travel Quirk: During a three-week internship in Bengaluru, he admitted he barely left his accommodation due to his fear of the city’s notorious traffic.
- Inspiration: He often cites the stories of entrepreneurs like Jensen Huang (NVIDIA CEO) as proof that an immigrant founder can build a multi-trillion-dollar company.
Latest Updates
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Base city or country: Lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with frequent travel to India for partnerships and user growth.
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Ongoing projects: Scaling Perplexity Pro, improving answer quality with better retrieval and ranking, and investing in AI-first indexing of the web.
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New announcements: 2025 interviews focused on India traction, hiring across research and product, and interest in supporting local developer and founder communities.
FAQs
Q1. What is Aravind Srinivas’s age?
He is 31 years old as of October 2025. His date of birth is 7 June 1994.
Q2. Is Aravind Srinivas married?
Yes, Aravind Srinivas is married. He publicly acknowledged his wife in a March 2025 interview, crediting her for his moral support and ability to stay grounded.
Q3. Who is Aravind Srinivas’s wife?
Aravind Srinivas is married to Sharmada Vishwanath, who is a professional in the field of Indian classical dance and entertainment.
Q4. What does Aravind Srinivas do for a living?
He is the CEO and cofounder of Perplexity AI, an AI-powered answer engine.
Q5. What is Aravind Srinivas known for?
Building Perplexity AI, popularizing citation-first AI search, and giving influential interviews on the future of search.
Q6. What are his latest projects in 2025?
Scaling Perplexity globally, deepening India presence through partnerships, and advancing AI-first indexing and retrieval.
Q7. Has Aravind Srinivas been involved in any controversies?
Media debate in 2024 focused on attribution and crawling in AI search. He responded by disputing several claims and emphasized improvements and clearer norms.
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