Bloomberg: Moonshot closes round at $50bn valuation before 2027 IPO

Moonshot AI, a Chinese startup behind the Kimi series of AI models, has successfully closed its latest private fundraising round, with the aim to raise $5bn. According to Bloomberg, the company's valuation stands at $50bn, making Moonshot a significant player in the AI industry. The startup is scheduled to go public in Hong Kong next year, following its confidential filing for the listing.

Moonshot's flagship model, Kimi K3, boasts 2.8 trillion parameters, placing it among the largest open-weight AI models in the market. Industry experts rank Kimi K3 on par with AI models from Chinese competitors Alibaba, Zhipu, and DeepSeek, as well as US-based models like Gemini 3.8 Flash and Grok 4.7. Moonshot's AI solutions are praised for their cost efficiency, according to Pyratz founder Bilal El Alamy.

The company has already attracted notable investors, including China's $8bn National Artificial Intelligence Industry Investment Fund. Moonshot's revenue is projected to reach $2bn by the end of the year, nearly doubling its current ARR of $1bn. For its IPO, Moonshot has enlisted the support of Bank of America, alongside sponsor banks China International Capital, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs.

Moonshot is also reportedly in talks with US tech giants Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to explore revenue-sharing agreements for hosting the Kimi K3 model on their cloud services.