Alibaba funds another AI startup valued at $2.5b

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Investments in AI have been mounting, and Alibaba has been quick to the jump to become one of China’s dominant forces in the space. In its latest move, the ecommerce major led an over US$600 million funding round for Chinese startup MiniMax.

The deal brought MiniMax’s valuation to over US$2.5 billion and marks Alibaba’s second major AI investment just this year – after recently leading a US$1 billion round for Moonshot AI, which valued it at US$2.5 billion too.

MiniMax is a China-based AI startup that specializes in social AI, developing AI companions and virtual characters for interactive experiences.

Currently, the startup offers two AI character role-playing apps: Talkie for international markets and Xing Ye for China.

Notably, in June last year, MiniMax raised US$250 million from a Tencent-backed entity, among others.

For its AI ambitions, Alibaba is also implementing a comprehensive plan aimed at fostering growth of independent business units, ranging from cloud computing to logistics, Bloomberg reported. 

A key focus of this initiative is the revitalization of the cloud business. According to Bloomberg, the cloud unit currently serves approximately 80% of the China’s tech companies and hosts 50% of the country’s generative AI firms.

Alibaba is also trying to integrate AI – including its in-house model Tongyi Qianwen – across the company’s diverse operations, which include entertainment.

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