Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment buys stake in Elon Musk’s AI startup

June 6, 2024
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Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment buys stake in Elon Musk’s AI startup

Image credit: Marco Bello/Getty Images

Disclaimer: This story was originally published on May 29, 2024.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest has reportedly purchased a stake in Elon Musk’s xAI a few days after the artificial intelligence startup announced a significant $6 billion raise in a series B funding round.

The stake represents nearly 2% of the holdings of Ark Venture Fund, Wood’s investment fund for disruptive innovation in the public and private markets, Ark Chief Futurist Brett Winton said in an interview with Bloomberg.

The purchase follows a previous disclosure by the fund last month, revealing a stake in OpenAI that constituted approximately 4% of its portfolio. Additionally, the fund holds a position in another AI company, Anthropic, which represents around 5% of its assets.

According to Bloomberg on May 28, Winton emphasized that xAI’s distinct advantage lies in its access to X’s extensive distribution network and real-time data, especially when coupled with Elon Musk’s “maniacal focus on velocity.” He further predicted that AI foundation models will reach a valuation of “multiple trillions of dollars” by the end of the decade.

The reported Ark Invest stake in xAI comes a few days after the AI startup shared that it raised significant funding from venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Sequoia Capital.  Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his investment company Kingdom Holding also joined the round.

The company said the funds will be used to take its first product to market, enhance its infrastructure, and expedite the research and development of future technologies.

This is not the first time Wood has linked with any Musk-affiliated company. On April 16-17, her Ark funds bought 87,187 shares of electric vehicle brand Tesla, valued at $13.6 million as of April 17’s close.

Wood’s Ark Venture Fund, launched in September 2022, invests in both public and private firms — including Musk’s SpaceX, Epic Games, Freenome Holdings, and Relation Therapeutics. Private companies make up around 80% of total holdings.

Launched in September 2022, Wood’s Ark Venture Fund has since invested in Musk’s SpaceX, Epic Games, Freenome Holdings, and Relation Therapeutics. The majority of the fund’s holdings, approximately 80%, are allocated to private companies.

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