Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6bn from investors including Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed – The National

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $6bn from investors including Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed – The National

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence start-up xAI has raised $6 billion in a series B funding round that includes participation from Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment company Kingdom Holding, as it seeks to challenge rival OpenAI.The round, which also saw investments from Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management & Research Company, will support the market launch of xAI's products, the company said on Monday.“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,” it said.It added that “multiple exciting technology updates and products” will soon be announced.

The company's valuation before the round was $18 billion, Mr Musk, owner of X, formerly Twitter, said in a post on the platform.Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding, in conjunction with Prince Alwaleed, already holds a substantial investment position in X.After an initial purchase of shares in 2011, both Kingdom Holding and its chairman increased their ownership in October 2015, jointly accounting for a major shareholding of X, according to the company’s website.Mr Musk launched xAI in July last year amid the growing demand for generative AI to compete with