Startup News: 3 AI companies now approved for U.S. government use, Perplexity offers to buy Google Chrome
AI companies make the list of U.S. government contractors
AI research company Anthropic has signaled it wants to compete for lucrative government contracts. It was recently reported that the private company offered its generative AI product, Claude, to the U.S. government for $1.1 The move comes after its generative AI rival OpenAI offered its Chat-GPT Enterprise edition to the U.S. government workforce to use over the next year for a fee of $1.2
The U.S. General Services Administration approved these two firms for use governmentwide just this month, along with Google’s Gemini.3
OpenAI announced on its website its aim to make government more efficient and technologically driven. But the strategy among these two leading AI companies has the potential to pay off in the long run beyond its nominal $1 offering. Should Anthropic and OpenAI prove their value, and as new products are introduced, these agreements could become extended and thus lead to revenue potential for the firms.
According to the U.S. General Services Administration, “By making these cutting-edge AI solutions available to federal agencies, we’re leveraging the private sector’s innovation to transform every facet of government operations. From streamlining back-office processes to revolutionizing employee and citizen experiences and reimagining how we deliver mission-critical services, AI holds immense opportunities.”
Founded in 2021, San Francisco-based Anthropic’s Forge Price™ is $162.15 as of August 14, 2025 implying a valuation of $177.80 billion. Its notable investors include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Amazon.
San Francisco-based OpenAI’s Forge Price™ is $469.47 as of August 14, 2025 implying a valuation of $324.62 billion. Investors in the private company include Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Microsoft and Andreessen Horowitz. OpenAI was founded in 2015.
Perplexity AI offers to buy Google’s Chrome
Another reported AI sector move last week involved San Francisco-based Perplexity. The conversational AI platform provider offered $34.5 billion to acquire Google’s search browser Chrome.4 The offer is nearly twice that of Perplexity’s current valuation of $18 billion, according to the Forge Price™ indicator at the time.
The news comes as Google is defending an antitrust lawsuit claiming its monopolization of the web-search market.5 The case has the potential to force Google to sell off its web-search business and signals that finding a buyer is likely.
According to Bloomberg, Chrome has roughly 3.5 billion users globally with an estimated value of $20 billion to $50 billion. Perplexity would have much to gain should the acquisition be realized.
Founded in 2022, Perplexity’s Forge Price™ is $629.49 which implies a valuation of $18 billion as of August 14, 2025. Its notable investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Databricks Ventures, T. Rowe Price and Camford Capital.
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