❯ Moonshot AI closes its final pre-IPO round at a valuation of about $50 billion and targets a Hong Kong listing in the first quarter of next year

A $50 billion valuationAccording to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, as carried by Yahoo Finance, Moonshot AI has closed its final private funding round at a valuation of about $50 billion, up from $31.5 billion in the summer. It has confidentially filed for an IPO, targets a Hong Kong listing in the first quarter of 2027, and may raise up to $5 billion.

The company behind KimiMoonshot was founded in early 2023 by Yang Zhilin, who studied at Tsinghua University and worked at Meta and Google. Its main product is the Kimi chatbot, with the latest K3 model launched in July. Investors include Alibaba, Tencent and 5Y Capital.

Fast-growing revenueThe report says Moonshot disclosed annual recurring revenue of $300 million in June, that the figure is now about $1 billion, and that it is expected to reach $2 billion by year-end. Annual recurring revenue projects a year from current subscriptions and contracts and is not realized full-year revenue. Bank of America is overall coordinator, with CICC, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs as sponsors, and early meetings with investors could start this month.

Variables on the way to listingThe report also flags risks: authorities are conducting a data-security probe into Moonshot and DeepSeek, there are allegations about its use of restricted Nvidia chips, and the timeline could shift. Moonshot, DeepSeek and Kling all aim to list in 2027, when Chinese AI companies will face public-market pricing together.

▮ SIGNALRevenue going from $300 million to $1 billion in half a year, and valuation from $31.5 billion to $50 billion, shows Chinese model companies are starting to pitch capital markets on revenue instead of user counts.