Moonshot AI closes $50bn final funding round ahead of planned Hong Kong IPO

Moonshot AI has closed the final round of private fundraising at a valuation of about $50 billion and is heading toward an initial public offering in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2027, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg (https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/moonshot-said-to-eye-early-2027-ipo-after-value-hits-50-billion/article71549829.ece).

The Beijing-based maker of the Kimi AI models has begun laying the groundwork to gauge investor sentiment through early-look meetings starting as early as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The company is considering raising up to $5 billion in the IPO, one of Hong Kong’s most hotly anticipated listings, where AI-driven fundraising is setting fresh records.

Moonshot burst onto the global stage in July with the debut of Kimi K3, an open model it says goes nearly toe-to-toe with OpenAI and Anthropic platforms on some metrics. Its valuation has climbed steeply through successive rounds: a round this summer valued it at $31.5 billion. Annual recurring revenue is expected to reach $2 billion by December from $1 billion now, after $300 million in June, Bloomberg earlier reported.

The lab has filed confidentially for the IPO, with Bank of America as overall coordinator alongside CICC, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, and counts Alibaba, Tencent and 5Y Capital among its backers (https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367027/kimi-maker-moonshot-ai-explore-dual-hong-kong-and-shanghai-ipos-boost-capital-sources). Regulators have meanwhile opened a data-security probe into DeepSeek and Moonshot, The Information reported. Deliberations are ongoing and the IPO timing could still change; Moonshot did not respond to requests for comment during a Chinese public holiday.