- Dotika
- Posts
- xAI seeks $15B funding
News of the day
1. Elon Musk's xAI is reportedly in advanced talks to secure $15 billion in new funding, aiming for a $230 billion valuation. → Read more
2. Lovable hits $200M ARR in 4 months, crediting European base and community for success. CEO Osika proves global AI companies can thrive outside Silicon Valley. → Read more
3. Cloudflare outage caused by database permissions change leading to oversized file and system failure. → Read more
4. xAI releases Grok 4.1, boosting emotional intelligence, cutting hallucinations, and improving safety with two configurations. → Read more
Our take
Hi Dotikers!
The Wall Street Journal claims that xAI, Elon Musk’s startup, is discussing a $15 billion fundraise at a $230 billion valuation. As of November 19, 2025, this information has not been confirmed by the company, and the figure remains unclear, including whether it’s pre- or post-money. But the message is clear. The market is not just pricing a product. It is pricing a bet on infrastructure, distribution, and Musk’s ability to aggregate assets at the right moment.
Helpful reminder. In March 2025, xAI absorbed X in a $113 billion deal, with a claimed valuation of $80 billion for xAI and $33 billion for X. Since then, the strategy has been crystal clear: deploy compute at massive scale, quickly. In July, xAI secured $5 billion in equity and $5 billion in debt. SpaceX put $2 billion into the pot. The Colossus projects in Memphis symbolize this shift. It’s the thesis of compute first, product later.
On the usage side, Grok is progressing but still far behind ChatGPT. The orders of magnitude are stubborn. The gap in distribution and retention cannot be closed with a line of credit. At a $230 billion valuation, one would hope Grok can also make coffee 😉
Should we see this as a bubble of numbers or the patient construction of industrial levers? Probably both. Musk’s storytelling is leveraging three real assets: mastery of the capital ecosystem; the launchpad X provides for user acquisition and data; and the execution speed on hardware, with a GPU ambition rarely seen in a company that isn’t a hyperscaler.
G.
Meme of the day
Reply