Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter reported that G42, an artificial intelligence company based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, acquired part of Byte Jumping through a private market investment with an offer of more than $100 million, which is currently valued at $220 billion (currently about RMB 1.51 trillion).
G42, which is controlled by UAE royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, acquired more than $100 million in private equity from existing investors in recent months through its 42XFund, and another fund bought ByteDive later at a valuation of $225 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The company’s investment in ByteDance has been very successful.
However, a source close to ByteDance told 24/7 that at the company level, “Byte has no new financing actions or plans in the near future.
According to the report, Sheikh Tanun has a wide portfolio of investments through G42, covering various fields such as cloud computing, vaccines and driverless cars. Last year, he set up the artificial intelligence firm 42XFund for $10 billion, which led to more funding for investing in technology companies in emerging markets.
Notably, the firm recently hired Jason Hu, former head of investment at Jingdong, to expand in Asia. a spokeswoman for G42 said the 42X Fund has hired 10 investment professionals in Shanghai, Singapore and Jakarta, but declined to elaborate further.
Hu joined Jingdong in 2019 after serving as a managing director at CDH Capital and a managing partner at Kaihui Private Equity, according to his LinkedIn profile. Earlier in his career, he also worked as an adviser at Bain & Company.
Bloomberg believes the Middle Eastern firm may be looking at the long-term potential of ByteDaily, as the tech giant has risen in an environment of continued crackdowns.
Since the debut of ChatGPT, enthusiasm for the AI side of the equation has grown, and ByteDance pioneered innovative algorithms in AI even a decade ago, thereby enthralling users with the most engaging content. 42XFund representatives declined to comment. A spokesperson for ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
