Moonshot AI closes $3.5B funding round at $35B valuation, eyes Hong Kong IPO this year

Bloomberg: Moonshot AI closes $3.5bn round at $35bn valuation

Moonshot AI is now aiming to raise new funds at a $50bn pre-money valuation. Moonshot AI, the maker behind the world's largest open-weight AI model, has reportedly closed a $3.5bn funding round at a $35bn valuation. Sources told Bloomberg that the raise was far higher than the anticipated $1bn to $2bn, highlighting the fervour for cheaper Chinese AI models that are able to compete with their US contemporaries. China's National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment was among the lead investors in the round. The $8bn state-backed fund also invested in DeepSeek's recent $7.4bn round. The fresh funding round comes just after Moonshot unveiled Kimi K3 earlier this month, boasting 2.8trn parameters and performances closely rivalling those of OpenAI and Anthropic's newest models. The model quickly gained in popularity, causing a rush of new subscribers that overwhelmed Moonshot's GPUs. The company, as a result, temporarily paused taking on new users. Bloomberg previously reported that initial interest drove daily sales at Moonshot up sixfold since K3's debut. New subscriptions are still paused - however, interested buyers can join the waitlist. Sailing on its popularity, Moonshot AI is now aiming to raise new funds at a $50bn pre-money valuation, sources told Bloomberg. The company is reportedly working towards a public listing in as little as six months' time. Moonshot was last valued at $20bn after a $2bn raise announced in May. K3's launch garnered a similar reaction to DeepSeek's release early last year, which authorities in the West viewed with scepticism, floating security concerns. Other Chinese companies, including Alibaba, Zhipu and MiniMax, have also launched successful AI models in recent months, as US and China continue their tug for dominance in the AI space. Both countries are also ramping up their investments to build AI infrastructure and support AI start-ups in their plans to grow even bigger by tapping the stock market. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Moonshot AI closes $3.5 billion funding round to hit $35 billion valuation

The Beijing-based startup managed to secure far more than the $1 billion to $2 billion it initially targeted, people familiar with the matter said. The National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund -- the state vehicle that's also a backer of DeepSeek's -- was among the lead investors in the round, people in the know said. Moonshot AI secured a $35 billion valuation after raising a larger-than-anticipated $3.5 billion in a just-closed round of financing, riding the momentum from a breakthrough Kimi K3 model that sent ripples through Silicon Valley. The Beijing-based startup managed to secure far more than the $1 billion to $2 billion it initially targeted, people familiar with the matter said. The National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund -- the state vehicle that's also a backer of DeepSeek's -- was among the lead investors in the round, the people said, asking not to be identified to talk about private information. Moonshot is now reaching out to potential backers for a new funding round at a $50 billion pre-money valuation, aiming to secure capital a final time before an initial public offering in Hong Kong as soon as this year. The Chinese startup's frenetic deal-making underscores the enormous investor interest in a private firm that this month leapt to the forefront of the industry with the K3, which approached the performance of frontier models by Anthropic PBC and OpenAI. Its debut triggered a selloff in tech stocks and was hailed as another "DeepSeek moment" -- providing evidence that the country's AI labs can keep pace with the US despite export curbs and computing constraints. Representatives for an investor in the National AI Industry Investment Fund and its manager didn't respond to emailed requests for comment. A Moonshot spokesperson didn't respond to an emailed request for comment. Moonshot on Monday released its weights -- the numeric values the model learned during training -- -- allowing developers to download, tweak and host the technology freely. Moonshot's success has also thrust it into the center of US-Chinese tensions. A White House official accused the company of training the K3 on restricted Nvidia Corp. chips, while reiterating allegations of distillation -- the practice of extracting outputs from top competitors to boost performance. Moonshot has not responded to requests for comment on the matter. Moonshot developed the K3 with 2.8 trillion parameters -- a rough measure of AI complexity -- making it the world's largest open-weight model at a time when US rivals keep their technology proprietary. The model also features a 1 million-token context window, enabling it to process massive documents or codebases in a single prompt. Moonshot achieved $300 million of annual recurring revenue -- a gauge of future sales -- in June, jumping from $200 million in April, Bloomberg News reported earlier. Since the K3's launch, daily sales have surged at least six times, one person familiar with the matter has said.

Moonshot AI reaches $35B valuation after $3.5B funding round- report By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Moonshot AI achieved a $35 billion valuation after completing a $3.5 billion funding round, according to Bloomberg News. The Beijing-based artificial intelligence startup raised more than its initial target of $1 billion to $2 billion. The company is now seeking additional funding at a $50 billion pre-money valuation, the people said. Moonshot AI plans to raise capital before pursuing an initial public offering in Hong Kong later this year. The funding round followed the release of Moonshot's Kimi K3 model, which attracted attention in the technology sector. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.