China's Moonshot AI targets $50b valuation on Kimi K3 momentum

Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI is seeking a new round of investment that would value the company at up to $50 billion, in what would be its final external fundraise before a planned Hong Kong listing.

Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing multiple sources, that Moonshot AI plans to wrap up a funding round valuing the company at $31.5 billion within days and then immediately launch a follow-on investment round. The current round began this summer.

The Beijing-based company plans to begin negotiations with potential investors in August. Sources said the upcoming round would be the last external funding before an initial public offering, which could take place on the Hong Kong stock exchange before the end of the year.

The fundraising push has been fueled by the recent release of Kimi K3, a model with about 2.8 trillion parameters that the company has billed as the world's largest open-source AI model. It has drawn attention for performance approaching that of the latest models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Moonshot AI's annualized recurring revenue climbed from $200 million in April to $300 million in June. Demand surged so sharply after Kimi K3's debut that the company temporarily suspended new subscriptions because requests exceeded its processing capacity.

The company's valuation has soared from $4.3 billion at the end of last year to $31.5 billion last month — a roughly sevenfold jump in about half a year. If the $50 billion target is reached, the valuation will have risen more than tenfold in under a year.

Moonshot AI was co-founded in 2023 by Yang Zhilin, 34, and two fellow Tsinghua University alumni.

The company has already distributed a shareholder resolution seeking approval for a Hong Kong listing. Bloomberg said the move signals that an IPO could occur within six months.

Meanwhile, Anthropic publicly accused Moonshot AI of copying its technology in a February blog post.