Moonshot AI eyes US$30 billion valuation as China’s AI race intensifies

Moonshot AI, the developer of China’s popular Kimi chatbot, is seeking to raise between US$1 billion and US$2 billion in a new funding round that could value the company at as much as US$30 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter, as competition among the country’s leading artificial intelligence developers intensifies. The Beijing-based company was targeting a valuation roughly 50 per cent higher than the US$20 billion it achieved in its previous financing round, completed in May, according to HF Capital, the deal’s financial adviser, which later removed details of the transaction from a WeChat post. If completed at the targeted valuation, the new fundraising would mark a dramatic rise for one of China’s most closely watched AI start-ups and underscore investors’ growing appetite for domestic AI champions. Moonshot, whose latest funding was first reported by Bloomberg on Monday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s valuation has surged over the past year amid strong investor interest in China’s AI sector, which has also lifted peers such as Zhipu AI and MiniMax. Both companies made their public market debuts in Hong Kong earlier this year, attracting strong investor demand. A US$30 billion valuation would represent an increase of more than sixfold from Moonshot’s valuation at the end of last year. The company has also taken steps that could pave the way for a future Hong Kong listing. Last month, the South China Morning Post reported that Moonshot had begun dismantling its offshore corporate structure as part of preparations for a potential initial public offering. Despite its rapid growth, Moonshot faces fierce competition in China’s increasingly crowded AI market. Its Kimi chatbot remains one of the country’s best-known consumer AI products, but trails larger rivals including ByteDance’s Doubao and Alibaba’s Qwen. Alibaba owns the SCMP. According to AI analytics platform Aicpb.com, Doubao and Qwen were the two most popular AI apps in China in April, while Kimi ranked eighth, behind offerings from DeepSeek and Tencent’s Yuanbao. The company’s annual recurring revenue, a measure that annualises current subscription income, doubled to about US$200 million in April from US$100 million in early March, driven by growing demand for its AI models and chatbot services.