Tina Oberoi, a former xAI and Google employee, is in talks to raise about $50 million in seed funding for Moir, a new startup focused on helping people prove their identities online, Bloomberg reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The Palo Alto, California-based startup has begun talks with investors at a $250 million valuation, according to the report. Oberoi worked at Google for more than five years before joining xAI's data team. It is not clear how Moir's technology will work or when it might be available.
Deepfake detection startups generally use AI technology to check if a voice, image or video is fake or has been altered. Some also check who is behind an online account or call to help prevent fraud.
Oberoi is among several former xAI employees who have started AI companies. River AI, founded by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, raised $1.1 billion in funding last month to develop personalized AI. Humans&, co-founded by former xAI researchers Eric Zelikman and Yuchen He, raised $480 million in a seed round at a $4.5 billion valuation in January. Another former xAI engineer, Ying Sheng, co-founded AI infrastructure startup RadixArk, which raised $100 million in seed funding in May at a $400 million post-money valuation.
Moir's funding talks come as other startups raise money to address deepfakes and online impersonation. KPMG took a minority stake in Reality Defender earlier this month, though it did not disclose the investment amount.
Identity verification company Socure raised $156 million last month at a $5.2 billion valuation, while Sensity AI raised $2.1 million earlier this year for its deepfake detection technology. Cybersecurity startup imper.ai announced $28 million in funding in December to address impersonation, including deepfakes and voice clones, in business communications.