AI chat startup Chai announces $205m valuation

Chai, the AI chat entertainment platform, has announced a $205 million valuation after a rapid round of funding from a number of high-powered angel investors. The profitable company has historically been reticent to accept outside funding, preferring to reinvest all financial gains in further improving the company's proprietary AI offerings.

The company was founded in 2020 with the goal of instituting a cutting-edge AI platform app, encouraging users to explore their creativity and create meaningful connections with the artificial intelligence that acts as a friend and a confidante. Bolstered by the market's enthusiasm, the platform quickly grew to a 5 million-strong user base.

William Beauchamp, Founder and CEO, Chai: "Today marks a new era for Chai. We have raised a substantial amount of funding which will allow us to continue our exponential growth, and focus on further training and maturing our AI. Our research team, all of whom are motivated by the limitless possibilities our AI has to offer, will be able to continue their work on providing users with the best experience possible. At Chai, we constantly strive to stay at the forefront of the artificial intelligence field, and with this new wave of funding, we're for sure on the right track. Our focus right now is on experimenting with new ways to engage and delight our users, as well as leveraging the best of the AI community."

The startup will use its funds to further its ambitious scope and focus on pushing forward with its Guanaco competition, announced earlier this year. The competition leverages the mastery of the AI community by allowing engineers, academics and students to compete to design the highest-scoring AI language model, as measured by user engagement on the Chai platform. Top-ranking entrants will be awarded prizes of up to one $1 million.

www.chai-research.com