The xAI, an artificial intelligence startup founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, just announced it has raised $6 billion in series B funding. The new investments have now brought the total valuation of the company to $24 billion, considering Musk revealed that the xAI was valued at $18 million prior to series B funding.
The startup has attracted a number of high-profile investors including Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. According to xAI’s announcement, the firm will “continue on this steep trajectory of progress over the coming months” and intends to follow up with technology updates and products soon.
“The funds from the round will be used to take xAI’s first products to market, build advanced infrastructure, and accelerate the research and development of future technologies,” xAI added.
The additional funds will help xAI to challenge the increasingly competitive AI market. The company previously unveiled a generative AI chatbot named Grok, which is set to rival the popular ChatGPT from OpenAI. Interestingly, Musk was one of OpenAI’s founders but decided to leave the company in 2018 because he didn’t agree with the direction in which the company was going.
Grok is notable for being trained on the content of X (former Twitter) and has direct access to the platform. The chatbot is currently in its beta testing phase and is available for X premium users.