Moonshot AI Plans Hong Kong IPO After $50 Billion Valuation

Moonshot AI, the developer of the Kimi chatbot, is preparing for an initial public offering in Hong Kong targeted for the first quarter of 2027. The company is nearing the completion of a pre-IPO funding round that values the firm at approximately $50 billion, a significant increase from a $31.5 billion valuation recorded earlier this summer. The IPO could raise up to $5 billion, with Bank of America coordinating the deal alongside sponsors including Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and China International Capital Corp.

Moonshot AI plans to meet with investors in the coming weeks to gauge interest. This move coincides with similar ambitions from rival developer DeepSeek, which is securing a funding round that may reach 100 billion yuan with investments from Tencent and CATL. DeepSeek has also hired CITIC Securities for a potential listing on Shanghai's STAR Market.

Both companies face regulatory headwinds as the Cyberspace Administration of China investigates whether they routed sensitive user data to Anthropic's Claude chatbot. It remains unclear how this probe and broader industry oversight will impact the final IPO timelines or valuations for either firm.