Elon Musk’s xAI Files for Private Sale of $1B Worth of Unregistered Securities

Elon Musk – who was also one of the founders of OpenAI back in the day – has been working on xAI for a while now, a firm launching another chatbot named Grok whose selling point is being “quirky” and having access to the Twitter API in order to stay up to date with current events.

Announcing Grok!

Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask!

Grok is designed to answer questions with a bit of wit and has a rebellious streak, so please don’t use…

— xAI (@xai) November 5, 2023

Grok Is Still In Beta

For the moment, access to the chatbot is severely limited, with practically only internal testers being able to mess around with it.

However, a recent filing with the SEC shows that Elon Musk has already secured some external investments for his new product and is looking for more.

Musk was in court earlier this year over accusations of improper financial behavior and insider trading of Dogecoin, a charge he dismissed as frivolous and simply untrue.

Although it is unknown whether the sale of assets pertaining to xAI will be crypto-related, Musk’s filing aims to stave off any future legal battles, given the finicky behavior of the SEC in recent months.

Looking For Private Buyers With Large Investments

The SEC’s Form D allows entrepreneurs to launch the sale of securities without registering them on one condition – the sale must be private in order to prevent retail investors from purchasing them and potentially getting burned.

Yesterday, Elon Musk filed one of these forms, notifying the SEC of his intent to raise $1 billion through the private sale of xAI equity. The assets are marked as pertaining to “other technology,” eschewing the categories “computers” and “telecommunications.”

The form also notes that over $134.6 million worth of equity has already been sold on the 29th of November. However, any further investments must be worth a minimum of $2 million.

The private sale of xAI equity may be the last stop before the product becomes open to the public. It is a relatively short turnaround time, given that xAI was founded in July, and its product has only been in beta for about three months.

Nevertheless, given Elon Musk’s access to resources allowing him to hire the best in the game, as well as his previous experience with AI via his earlier stint on the board of OpenAI before Altman took over, it’s safe to assume that Grok will be a welcome addition to the ever-growing roster of AI chatbots.