Original author: Jason Nelson
Original title: Elon Musk’s xAI Now Valued at $50 Billion Following Fresh Capital Injection
Original source: Decrypt
Translation: Koala, Mars Finance
In the booming artificial intelligence industry, xAI is alongside Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic, becoming part of a group developing consumer-facing artificial intelligence.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Grok developer xAI has raised $5 billion in new funding, bringing its valuation to $50 billion. The latest round of financing was first announced on Friday, adding to the billions raised in May.
Reports indicate that Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz participated in this financing, with the Qatar Sovereign Wealth Fund also involved, according to unnamed sources quoted in the report.
The company announced back in May that these investment firms had previously invested $6 billion in xAI, enabling it to continue its 'rapid growth'.
According to xAI, other companies investing in this AI developer include Vy Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, and Kingdom Holding.
In the booming AI industry, xAI joins the ranks of Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic, becoming one of a large group of companies developing consumer-facing artificial intelligence.
According to a report from market intelligence company International Data Corporation in August, hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in this emerging technology, with an expected additional investment of $632 billion by 2028.
As part of this effort, Tesla and xAI CEO Elon Musk expanded his search for investors in the Middle East in October, including Saudi Arabia. At that time, xAI was valued at $45 billion.
In the same month, Musk and xAI collaborated with computer chip manufacturer Nvidia to utilize its Spectrum-X network technology to enhance their work on xAI's Colossus supercomputer.
Musk founded xAI in July 2023 with the aim of developing an artificial intelligence to compete with his former company OpenAI and its flagship chatbot ChatGPT. When launched last year, OpenAI's competitor announced it had raised $134 million in funding, bringing its initial capital to $1 billion.
Last fall, xAI launched Grok for ChatGPT, which was integrated into X (formerly Twitter) for premium subscribers. However, the launch of Grok was somewhat rushed, a fact that xAI has acknowledged.
Despite these early missteps, Grok continues to evolve. In August, Grok 2 was launched, featuring image generation capabilities, and according to Elon Musk, the next version of Grok is expected to be released in December.