Moonshot, the developer of the Kimi large language model, has confidentially filed for an IPO in Hong Kong. The Beijing-based startup is seeking to raise approximately $3 billion, with a current private valuation of $50 billion.
The company has already secured more than $5.5 billion in total funding. Recent investors include Meituan, China Mobile, and CPE, who contributed over $2 billion in a recent round. Other backers include Alibaba, Tencent, IDG Capital, and HSG (formerly Sequoia Capital China).
Founded in 2023 by Yang Zhilin, Moonshot has developed the Kimi K3 model, which features 2.8 trillion parameters. The company describes it as the world's largest open-weight model, although high demand has strained its computing capacity.
Moonshot is currently in talks with Microsoft, Amazon, and Google regarding revenue-sharing agreements to host Kimi K3. Such a deal would be the first major partnership of its kind between a Chinese AI developer and a U.S. cloud provider.
The company has faced U.S. scrutiny over allegations of using restricted Nvidia chips and distilling capabilities from Anthropic's models, claims which Moonshot has disputed. To facilitate the IPO, the company shifted from an offshore red-chip structure to an onshore Chinese domicile.
The offering is being managed by Goldman Sachs, CICC, and Deutsche Bank. Moonshot's valuation of $50 billion is lower than rivals DeepSeek, valued at roughly $74 billion, and Z.AI, which has a market capitalization of about $66 billion.
