Alibaba said to lead new financing round for Chinese AI firm MiniMax that would value the start-up at over US$2 billion
Alibaba Group Holding is said to lead a new funding round of Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up MiniMax, according to an investor familiar with the matter, as the e-commerce giant continues to bet on innovative mainland enterprises similar to ChatGPT creator OpenAI.
Shanghai-based MiniMax, which was founded in 2021, is in the process of raising new funding that would value the company at more than US$2 billion, another investor with knowledge of the matter said. The two investors requested anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media.
A report by Bloomberg on Tuesday said MiniMax was looking to raise at least US$600 million in its latest funding round. MiniMax and Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
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The latest financing effort by MiniMax shows that interest in generative AI start-ups remains strong in mainland China, which led global investments into such firms in the first half of 2023.
Generative AI are algorithms, such as those that power ChatGPT, used to create new content, including audio, code, images, text, simulations and videos based on specific user prompts.
If confirmed, the MiniMax deal would be Alibaba's second major AI start-up investment this year after leading a funding round that raised more than US$1 billion for Beijing-based Moonshot AI, which was valued at more than US$2.5 billion.
That marked the largest single financing raised by a Chinese AI start-up since ChatGPT was released in November 2022.
Alibaba was also an early backer of Beijing-based ChatGLM developer Zhipu AI and Baichuan, the AI venture started by Sogou search engine founder Wang Xiaochuan.
Alibaba's increased interest in AI investment bolsters the commitment made by chief executive Eddie Wu Yongming in November, when he said the Hangzhou-based company will "provide infrastructure services for AI innovation and transformation in thousands of industries".
Wu also said in a letter to employees in September, shortly after assuming the group chief executive role, that Alibaba would sharpen its strategic focus on two main themes: "users first" and "AI-driven".
In the same month, Alibaba's cloud computing unit opened its large language model (LLM) Tongyi Qianwen to the public, as a means to "let every ordinary person and enterprise benefit from LLMs" - the technology used to train AI services like ChatGPT.
Additional reporting by Che Pan
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