With a new investment, Sierra, an enterprise-focused artificial intelligence business co-founded by OpenAI Chairman Bret Taylor and former Google executive Clay Bavor, is allegedly close to becoming a unicorn.
According to Bloomberg on Friday, January 26, an unidentified source said that Sequoia Capital is anticipated to spearhead a $85 million investment round, placing Sierra at a valuation of about $1 billion.
The research states that the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has contributed to the AI industry’s increased attention and funding from investors globally.
According to the research, this has excited investors in China and the United States, increasing the amount of money invested in AI projects and initiatives due to their potential for growth.
According to the report, co-founders Taylor and Bavor hope to use AI with Sierra to address important business problems. Even though Sierra just recently came out of stealth mode, it has already made significant headway in the market.
According to the report, Taylor became a board member of OpenAI subsequent to the dismissal and subsequent rehire of Sam Altman, the company’s CEO. He was co-CEO of Salesforce before quitting the business in November to pursue his entrepreneurial interests again. Additionally, he was a major factor in Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter.
According to the report, Bavor began leading Google’s virtual reality division in 2015 after joining the business in 2005 as a manager for Gmail and Google Drive. According to his LinkedIn profile, he co-founded the new business in March after leaving Google.
The French AI startup Mistral AI, valued at over $2 billion, raised $415 million in December during a recent investment round. Mistral AI, an open-source chatbot and generative AI tool company founded by academics from Meta and Google, has swiftly become well-known in the European AI startup scene.
The Financial Times (FT) reported that Elon Musk’s AI business, xAI, is in talks with investors globally and hopes to obtain $6 billion in capital at a proposed valuation of $20 billion. This news about Sierra’s efforts was published on the same day. Musk established xAI in June, and in November, the company unveiled Grok, its chatbot.