Moonshot AI Closes Final Private Round at $50 Billion, Eyes $5 Billion Hong Kong IPO
October 6, 2026 — Hong Kong / Beijing
Moonshot AI, the Beijing startup behind the Kimi family of models, has closed its final private fundraising round at a roughly $50 billion valuation and is targeting a Hong Kong IPO in the first quarter of 2027 that could raise up to $5 billion, according to Bloomberg reporting citing people familiar with the matter.
Why it matters: it would be one of Hong Kong’s biggest-ever tech listings and the clearest signal yet that China’s open-weight labs are graduating from startup funding to public markets.
The bottom line: Moonshot has climbed from a $4.3 billion valuation at the end of 2025 to $50 billion in under ten months, and its backers think a public listing can raise $5 billion. The question for investors is whether the Kimi hype survives a data-security probe and a cooling valuation environment.
What happened
Moonshot AI has finished what sources describe as its last private funding round before going public, at a valuation of about $50 billion. The company has confidentially filed for a Hong Kong listing and could begin early-look meetings with institutional investors as early as this month to gauge demand, per Bloomberg’s reporting. Deliberations are ongoing, and the timing could still shift. The company did not respond to requests for comment during China’s public holiday.
The details
- Valuation trajectory: $4.3 billion at the end of 2025, roughly $20 billion by May 2026, around $35 billion in a July round, and now $50 billion — a more than tenfold climb in about nine months.
- Backers: Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan are among the investors, with CICC, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank named as underwriters in various reports.
- The engine: Kimi K3, launched in July 2026, is the world’s largest open-weight model at 2.8 trillion parameters with a one-million-token context window, and scores near the top US labs on several benchmarks.
- Revenue: sources put annualized recurring revenue at about $1 billion now, up from roughly $300 million in June, with some projecting it could reach $2 billion by December.
- The caveat: Chinese regulators have reportedly opened a data-security probe into Moonshot and DeepSeek, which could complicate the listing timeline.
Why it matters
For AI watchers, this is the China-side counterpart to the Anthropic and OpenAI mega-rounds: public-market investors are about to get a direct way to bet on — or against — the thesis that open-weight Chinese models can convert benchmark strength into durable revenue. Moonshot, founded in 2023 by former Tsinghua researcher Yang Zhilin, is the first of the Chinese “AI tigers” to make the leap. If the listing prices well, expect Zhipu, MiniMax and others to follow fast.
FAQ
When is the Moonshot IPO expected?
The target is the first quarter of 2027 in Hong Kong, though sources say the timeline could change.
How much could the IPO raise?
Up to $5 billion, which would make it one of Hong Kong’s most anticipated tech deals.
Why is Moonshot worth $50 billion?
Investors are betting on Kimi’s open-weight strategy and fast revenue growth: sources describe annualized revenue climbing from around $300 million in June toward a potential $2 billion by year-end.
Who owns Moonshot AI?
It was founded in 2023 by Yang Zhilin, and its backers include Alibaba, Tencent and Meituan’s investment arms.
Could regulators delay the IPO?
Possibly. Reports say Chinese regulators have opened a data-security probe into Moonshot and DeepSeek, and it’s unclear how that affects the timeline.
Sources: Bloomberg (via The Hindu BusinessLine), AI Weekly, Crypto Briefing.