$Alibaba(BABA.US)holds a significant equity position in Moonshot AI, the developer of the Kimi LLM. The company emerged as one of Moonshot’s largest and earliest institutional backers through a landmark February 2024 funding round that Alibaba led. In that transaction, Alibaba invested approximately $800 million as part of a roughly $1 billion round, securing an approximately 36 percent stake at a $2.5 billion post-money valuation, according to the company’s subsequent annual report disclosure.

$Alibaba(BABA.US)continued to participate in follow-on rounds alongside other major investors such as Tencent. These included a Series C round of around $500 million completed near the end of 2025 at roughly a $4.3 billion valuation and an additional financing of approximately $700 million in early 2026. Most recently, in May 2026, Moonshot closed a $2 billion Series D round led by Meituan’s venture arm that valued the company at more than $20 billion; reports on that transaction continued to list Alibaba among the prominent existing backers even as new capital entered the cap table.

The 36% stake referenced in Alibaba’s disclosures has likely been diluted by the substantial capital raises and rapid valuation increases that followed the initial investment. Nevertheless, Alibaba remains one of Moonshot AI’s most notable shareholders and is frequently cited in 2026 coverage as a key financial backer of the fast-growing AI startup. The investment is structured as preferred shares held for financial return rather than operational control; Moonshot continues to operate independently under its founding team, developing its own Kimi models that compete with leading domestic and international systems while Alibaba pursues parallel efforts with its Qwen series. This positions $Alibaba(BABA.US)with meaningful exposure to one of China’s most prominent private AI companies amid the sector’s intense capital inflows and technological progress.

@Captain's Treasure