Alibaba leads record $2.5 billion investment to create Chinese artificial intelligence company
(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd led the largest single funding round for a Chinese artificial intelligence startup, the latest in a series of large investments that signal the e-commerce company is once again deploying capital to pursue increase. Alibaba joins Silicon Valley peers such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Microsoft Corp. in making a big bet on generative artificial intelligence, the technology that powers ChatGPT. The company co-led a $1 billion funding round for Moonshot AI with existing backer Monolith Management, boosting the one-year-old company's valuation eightfold to about $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said. They join previous backers including the investment arm of food delivery giant Meituan and Sequoia Capital (formerly Sequoia China), people familiar with the matter said. said the people, who asked not to be named discussing the private deal. Founded in March 2023, Moonshot AI is one of China's high-profile startups developing genera...