Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup x.AI is reportedly set to close its funding round at a valuation of about $18 billion as soon as this week. Citing people familiar with the matter, a report by Bloomberg said that the size of the investment round, however, hasn’t been finalised.
The report said that while final details like valuation and timing are still being negotiated, x.AI – Musk’s AI competitor to OpenAI – is attracting significant investor interest.
A pitch deck used to woo investors emphasises Musk’s past successes with Tesla and SpaceX, along with the advantage of xAI training on high-quality data from Musk’s social network X (formerly Twitter).
Access to vast amounts of data is critical for building powerful AI chatbots, the area where xAI aims to challenge established players like OpenAI.
Musk’s AI startup to raises $6 billion in funding round
Last month, it was reported that xAI is raising $6 billion in funding from participants like Sequoia Capital on a pre-money valuation of $18 billion. The deal is expected to close within the next few weeks, assuming the terms remain unchanged.
The terms have already been revised once. Recently, Jared Birchall, who manages Musk’s family office, offered potential investors the opportunity to invest $3 billion in xAI at a pre-money valuation of $15 billion. Due to high investor interest, these figures have been adjusted.
“We all received an email that basically said, ‘It’s now $6 billion on $18 billion, and don’t complain because a lot of other people want in,” TechCrunch quoted a source as saying.
Investors, who have been pushing to join the deal for months, are reportedly not bothered by the change. Participating in the funding round are Sequoia Capital and Future Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by Steve Jurvetson, a long-time friend of Musk.
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