A Saudi Arabian fund has backed China’s most prominent generative artificial intelligence start-up, becoming the only foreign investor in the country’s efforts to create a homegrown rival to OpenAI.
Prosperity7, part of the state-owned oil group Aramco’s venture capital arm, has participated in a roughly $400mn investment round in AI start-up Zhipu AI, said two people familiar with the matter. The deal values the Chinese group at about $3bn.
Previously, China’s fledgling generative AI sector has been forced by US restrictions to rely on domestic funding, making Prosperity7’s investment the first high-profile example of a foreign backer throwing its weight behind one of the leading four generative AI start-ups.