Billionaire Football Star Cristiano Ronaldo Takes Stake in AI Startup Perplexity

Billionaire football star Cristiano Ronaldo has taken an equity stake in Perplexity AI Inc., deepening the Portuguese icon's push into technology investing and marking his most prominent deal in the sector to date.

Founded in 2022, Perplexity AI positions itself as an AI-powered search engine challenging Google, and has quickly become one of Silicon Valley's most talked-about startups. The company was founded by three post-1990s-born entrepreneurs and is now valued at more than $20 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

As part of the partnership, Perplexity said it will launch a dedicated "Cristiano Ronaldo hub" on its platform, allowing fans to interact with Ronaldo through real-time Q&A features and access personalized, AI-generated content. The hub will also showcase exclusive images and career highlights from the football star's decades-long career.

Ronaldo's investment comes as Perplexity continues a rapid growth trajectory. The company was founded in a rented apartment in San Francisco, where its founders wrote the first lines of code with the ambition of reinventing online search using AI. Within its first month of launch, Perplexity attracted more than one million visitors.

Despite having only a small team in its early days, the startup raised $3.1 million in seed funding within a month. Since then, it has completed six funding rounds, drawing backing from a high-profile roster of investors including Nvidia, Databricks, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, SoftBank's Vision Fund, and Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan.

In September this year, Perplexity secured a $200 million funding commitment, pushing its valuation to $20 billion and bringing total funding raised over three years to about $1.5 billion.

Ronaldo, now 40, said his decision to invest was driven by a shared belief in curiosity and continuous learning. "Curiosity is essential to achieving excellence," he said. "If you keep asking new questions every day, success will follow."

Widely known as the "King of the Champions League," Ronaldo remains one of the most influential figures in global sports. Born in 1985 to a working-class family on Portugal's Madeira island, he left school early and rose through relentless training and discipline. Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson once described him as a player who "made himself through hard work."

Today, Ronaldo is also one of the world's wealthiest athletes. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth is estimated at around $1.4 billion, supported by football contracts, endorsements, and a growing portfolio of investments.

His move into venture capital is not new. In 2017, Ronaldo acquired a majority stake in digital agency Thing Pink, followed by investments in Singapore-based sports micropayments platform ZujuPay, Portuguese media group Cofina, CR7 Hotels, personalized nutrition startup Bioniq, and wearable technology company WHOOP.

"I've always been driven by the desire to beat yesterday's version of myself," Ronaldo has said. He previously confirmed that he expects to retire within one to two years, with the 2026 World Cup likely to be his final international tournament.

Ronaldo's investment reflects a broader trend of elite athletes entering the venture capital and private investment world as they prepare for life after professional sports.

Former NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal recently joined alternative investment firm Jacmel Partners as a founding partner. The firm has launched an infrastructure-focused platform targeting investments in transportation, energy, and digital assets. O'Neal, nicknamed "Shaq," was an early investor in Google and is now the second-largest individual shareholder in Authentic Brands Group.

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has also joined the trend. The two-time NBA MVP and NBA champion last year launched BYL Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on sports, entertainment, and consumer products. Antetokounmpo said his goal was to support visionary founders and build long-term partnerships rather than simply chase financial returns.

Lionel Messi has taken a similar path. In October 2022, Messi co-founded private investment firm Play Time in Silicon Valley with several venture capital partners, targeting startups across all stages of the football industry.

In China, former NBA star Yao Ming is among the most prominent athlete-investors. In 2016, he co-founded investment firm Yao Capital, focused on the sports industry, alongside former Wanda Group chief investment officer Han Dayu and other finance professionals.

More recently, Chinese table tennis star Fan Zhendong made headlines after investing as a strategic partner in Major League Table Tennis in the United States, becoming one of the first top Chinese players to participate in shaping an overseas professional league through equity ownership.

As athletes' careers become shorter relative to their earning power, investment has emerged as a natural extension of their personal brands. "When I first entered the NBA, people talked about cars and luxury clothes," former NBA player Andre Iguodala once said. "Now everyone talks about which tech company they invested in."

For startups like Perplexity, the involvement of global sports icons offers more than capital. High-profile athletes bring massive social reach, global recognition, and marketing power that can accelerate user growth and brand awareness—assets increasingly valued in the competitive AI landscape.

As Ronaldo approaches the final chapter of his playing career, his move into AI underscores how elite athletes are leveraging wealth and influence to build business empires far beyond the pitch.