Billionaire Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) startup, xAI, recently announced that it has secured $6 billion in Series B funding, bringing the company's valuation to $24 billion. Investors in this round included Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, and Kingdom Holding.
The funding will be used by xAI to further develop its products and bring them to market. The company stated that there will be exciting technology updates and product announcements in the near future. Elon Musk, the founder of xAI, mentioned that the company had a pre-money valuation of $18 billion before the Series B funding round.
In addition to the funding news, xAI recently launched its Grok chatbot in November, which has been integrated into the X platform for users who purchase a subscription. The company is also actively hiring for various roles and seeking talented individuals to join its team.
Musk launched xAI as a competitor to OpenAI, a company he co-founded but later left the board of directors due to concerns about falling behind in the AI race and potential conflicts of interest with his work at Tesla. Earlier this year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the company breached its founding agreement to develop AI for the benefit of humanity rather than for profit.
OpenAI has denied these claims, stating that Musk left the board because he wanted more control over the company. Despite these legal disputes, xAI continues to forge ahead with its mission to understand the universe through rigorous pursuit of the truth.