Elon Musk is in talks with the Middle East’s biggest investors to invest in his AI startup xAI, which could raise the company’s valuation to $45 billion, the Financial Times writes, citing six sources familiar with the negotiations.
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They say Musk is seeking funding to compete with OpenAI, which recently raised more than $10 billion in debt and equity, as well as Anthropic, Google and Meta*. According to the Financial Times, Musk has approached investors from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and talks are also underway with existing xAI investors, including Sequoia Capital and Valor Equity Partners.
The valuation of $45 billion has been preliminarily agreed with investors, with Valor expected to lead the round and Sequoia to participate, the FT writes. However, the agreements are still in an initial phase and the parameters of the agreement may change, the newspaper’s sources said.
“These investors are always open to new opportunities and Musk is building one of the few major AI companies. Naturally, they are talking about cooperation, although I don’t think the project has made much progress yet,” said one of the Financial Times interlocutors.
In September, The Wall Street Journal reported on talks between Musk’s two companies. According to the publication, xAI can provide Tesla with access to licensed AI developments that will help improve Autopilot and in return will receive a share of the automaker’s revenue.
*Meta is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia and its activities are prohibited.
Author:
Nikolai Tikhonov
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
