Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal among biggest backers of Elon Musk’s start-up xAI
Focused on the development of advanced AI systems, xAI is valued at $24 billion following the latest funding round
The xAI logo is displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration: Getty Images)
Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and his Kingdom Holding Co. continue to rank among Elon Musk’s biggest backers, participating in the $6 billion Series B funding round of the tech billionaire’s startup, xAI.
In a blog post on xAI’s website, a description of key investors includes the Saudi prince’s personal office and his Tadawul-listed company.
The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, acquired a $1.05 billion stake in KHC in 2022.
The conglomerate, along with the private office of Prince Alwaleed, were jointly the second-largest investors after Musk’s Twitter takeover in 2022, according to a statement released by the Saudi prince at the time.
xAI, which is focused on the development of advanced AI systems, is valued at $24 billion, following the latest funding round that saw participation from Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management & Research Company.
The cash will be used to take xAI’s first products to market as the Musk entity rises to challenge OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is working on an update to its flagship AI product.
Meanwhile, MGX, the artificial intelligence mega-fund created in January through a partnership between Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and G42, held its first board meeting this week, chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi.
The board meeting was attended by Mubadala CEO and MGX Vice-Chair Khaldoon Al Mubarak, as well as Jassem Mohamed Bu Ataba Al Zaabi, Peng Xiao and Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi.