Chinese Moonshot files prospectus for IPO: aims to raise $3 billion in Hong Kong
The Chinese AI startup Moonshot has filed a confidential prospectus for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company plans to raise $3 billion in the offering.
The Chinese AI startup Moonshot has filed a confidential prospectus for an IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to a report by Reuters. This is expected to be one of the most anticipated IPOs in the near future for a Chinese artificial intelligence company.
According to people involved in the matter, the company, which developed the Kimi Large model, plans to raise $3 billion in the offering. In July, Moonshot launched the Kimi K3 model, which received positive reviews and high demand.
According to reports, the company is in talks with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon regarding revenue-sharing agreements that would allow the American cloud companies to host the model on their servers. If a deal is signed, it could become the first major revenue-sharing agreement between a Chinese AI company and major American cloud companies.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Moonshot's latest funding round was held at a valuation of $50 billion. This valuation is lower than that of some of its local rivals. For example, DeepSeek is valued at $74 billion. In May, Moonshot raised $2 billion from investors including Meituan, bringing the total amount raised by the company to over $5.5 billion.
The timeline for the IPO depends on receiving regulatory approvals, while financial details, including the size of the offering, may change depending on market conditions, according to the sources.
Moonshot joins a series of AI companies planning an IPO soon, including Anthropic, which is estimated to be planning to complete its IPO by October, as well as the Chinese company Z.AI. Moonshot was founded in 2023 by Yang Zhilin, an AI researcher who completed his PhD at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Moonshot has been accused of using Nvidia chips that are prohibited for export to China and of using capabilities taken from Anthropic's models. Following this, the US Treasury Secretary threatened to add the company to the blacklist.
