Moonshot AI, the Beijing-based developer of the Kimi models, has closed its final private funding round at a valuation of about $50 billion and is heading toward a Hong Kong initial public offering in the first quarter of 2027, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company has begun laying the groundwork to gauge investor sentiment through early-look meetings that could start as soon as this month, some of the people told Bloomberg. Moonshot is considering raising up to $5 billion in the listing, people familiar with the matter have said. Deliberations are ongoing and the timing could still change, the people said. Moonshot did not respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment during a Chinese public holiday.
The valuation is up from $31.5 billion in a round earlier this summer, according to Bloomberg. Reuters reported in September, citing two sources, that Moonshot was being valued at about $50 billion in a round then underway, in the same report that said the company had confidentially filed for the Hong Kong listing.
Moonshot’s annual recurring revenue is expected to rise to $2 billion by December from about $1 billion now, after reaching $300 million in June, Bloomberg reported. The company drew global attention in July with Kimi K3, an open model that Bloomberg said comes close to leading systems from OpenAI and Anthropic on some metrics.
Bank of America is overall coordinator for the offering, alongside sponsor banks China International Capital Corp., Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, people familiar with the matter have said. Founded in early 2023 by Yang Zhilin, a former Tsinghua University professor who previously worked at Meta and Google, Moonshot counts Alibaba, Tencent and 5Y Capital among its backers.
The deal is one of the most anticipated in Hong Kong, where AI-driven fundraising is setting records, Bloomberg said. It is unclear how tighter oversight of China’s AI industry could affect the valuation or the IPO timeline, the report added, after The Information reported that regulators had opened a data-security probe into DeepSeek and Moonshot.
Moonshot would join Chinese AI developers Z.AI and MiniMax, which listed in Hong Kong earlier this year. Z.AI launched a roughly $5 billion share placement and convertible bond sale there in September.
Sources
- Bloomberg: Moonshot Said to Eye Early 2027 IPO After Value Hits $50 Billion (October 6, 2026)
- Bloomberg via The Japan Times: Moonshot said to eye early 2027 IPO after value hits $50 billion (October 6, 2026)
- The Standard: Moonshot AI mulls HK IPO in Q1 2027 after topping US$50b valuation (October 6, 2026)
- Ctech: Moonshot AI hits $50 billion valuation as it prepares for Hong Kong IPO (October 6, 2026)
- Reuters: Chinese AI firm Moonshot files confidentially for Hong Kong IPO, sources say (September 3, 2026)