Moonshot AI targets US$12 billion valuation as revenue surges for Kimi models

Moonshot AI, the Chinese start-up behind the powerful Kimi artificial intelligence models, has added at least another US$700 million to its war chest after launching another funding round that could value it at up to US$12 billion. The new round, which comes just over a month after its last one, could almost triple Moonshot’s previous valuation of US$4.3 billion amid exploding investor interest in China’s AI enterprises. It was jointly led by existing investors including Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings, Andon Hong Kong and 5Y Capital, according to a source who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly. Moonshot, Alibaba, Andon and 5Y did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. Tencent declined to comment. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Moonshot’s latest flagship model Kimi K2.5 was named one of the strongest open models in the world, just a few months behind rival US models, according to third-party benchmark firm Artificial Analysis. The Beijing-based start-up’s overseas revenue surpassed domestic revenue for the first time following the release of K2.5 in late January, the source said, as paid users overseas grew at a fourfold rate. Its overseas expansion is set to continue, following Monday’s launch of a global service called “Kimi Claw”, which allows users to access the viral open-source AI agent OpenClaw through Moonshot’s platform. However, it remains uncertain whether Moonshot will reach its target valuation in the latest funding round, which has not yet concluded. Its domestic rivals, Beijing-based Zhipu AI and Shanghai-based MiniMax, have both seen their market capitalisations balloon in recent weeks following Hong Kong initial public offerings in early January, to US$29 billion and US$34 billion, respectively.