Kimi maker Moonshot AI eyes $30B valuation in latest round
What's the story
Moonshot AI, the company behind the Kimi chatbot, is in talks to raise up to $2 billion. The funding would increase its valuation to a whopping $30 billion. The discussions come just as Moonshot is nearing the close of a Meituan-led financing round that values the AI company at $20 billion post-investment. If successful, this latest round would be a major jump in capitalization from December when the start-up was valued at just over $4 billion.
Market standing
Funding discussions are in early stages
The funding discussions for Moonshot are at a nascent stage, and the details could change. If the company achieves its latest funding target, it would surpass publicly listed peer Minimax Group Inc., which had a market value of about $20 billion as of Monday. However, both still trail Zhipu's valuation of around $80 billion and DeepSeek's debut funding round goal of approximately $50 billion.
Business growth
Moonshot's annual recurring revenue exceeded $200 million
Moonshot's annual recurring revenue, a predictor of future sales, exceeded $200 million in April. The growth is attributed to the increasing demand for its chatbot and large language models. The company is also planning an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong after Beijing tightened its grip on overseas listings. Despite the changes, it will retain access to US dollar-denominated funds through a joint-venture structure for foreign backers.
Product launch
Moonshot AI was founded by former Tsinghua University professor
Founded by former Tsinghua University professor Yang Zhilin, Moonshot AI offers tiered subscription plans for its chatbot and licenses its technology to enterprise clients. The company recently launched Kimi Work, a general-purpose AI agent based on its latest K2.6 series models. This move shows that Moonshot is ready to take on China's leading players in the artificial intelligence space.