(Photo= Yonhap news)

 

[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Minyoung] Alibaba Group has become a major shareholder in the artificial intelligence (AI) startup, Moonshot, often dubbed as the 'Chinese version of OpenAI,' by acquiring a 36% stake.

According to a report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 25th, Alibaba revealed in its annual report submitted to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange the previous day that it had invested approximately $800 million (around 1 trillion won) for about a 36% stake.

When converted into the company's valuation, the investment amounts to around $2.2 billion, which is similar to the figure reported by local media in February.

At that time, Moonshot was reportedly valued at $2.5 billion and was seeking to raise over $1 billion in funds.

Moonshot is competing with other leading AI startups in China such as Zhifu AI, Minimax, and 01.ai.

In particular, Moonshot's generative chatbot, Kimi, surpassed Baidu's Eunibo, a chatbot from China's leading internet search company, in terms of visitor numbers last month.

 

 

 

AlphaBIZ Kim Minyoung(kimmy@alphabiz.co.kr)