After Kimi K3 surpasses global artificial intelligence benchmarks, Moonshot AI plans to IPO in Hong Kong
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Moonshot AI is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, with the listing likely to take place within the next six months. The company has sent a shareholder resolution to investors to get their approval for the planned Hong Kong initial public offering.
Sending a shareholder resolution is one of the first formal steps before a company goes public. moon landing artificial intelligence According to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, the company has also completed a new round of private financing, which may value the company at more than $30 billion. Final terms of the fundraising have not yet been finalized.
Moonshot AI revenue growth
The company believes now is the perfect time to prepare for an IPO as its annual recurring revenue (ARR) hit $300 million in June. Annual recurring revenue is a measure of how much money a company expects to make each year from subscription or long-term customers.
According to an earlier report by Bloomberg, Moonshot AI’s ARR in April was $200 million, showing rapid business growth in just two months. Investor interest in Moonshot AI grows after company unveils latest product you have a model Named Kimi K3 on July 17th. Kimi K3 is an open-weight AI model, which means developers can download its model parameters and customize them for their own use.
Kimi K3 beats the competition
The model contains 2.8 trillion parameters and is one of the largest open-weight AI models released to date. Moonshot AI stated that Kimi K3 outperforms almost all competing AI models, trailing only Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 in overall capabilities.
Independent AI research group Artificial Analysis ranked Kimi K3 ahead of Anthropic Opus 4.8 in a number of advanced AI benchmarks. This makes Kimi K3 the first Chinese open-weighted artificial intelligence model to achieve this ranking, according to Bloomberg citing data analyzed manually. Kimi K3’s strong performance has changed people’s views on China’s artificial intelligence industry and also influenced the launch of global technology stocks.
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Moonshot AI started preparing for the IPO before the release of Kimi K3. The company began considering listing in Hong Kong in early 2026. Moonshot AI has been in talks with China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Goldman Sachs for an IPO. The company has begun scrapping its “red-chip” corporate structure, a move aimed at making it easier for Chinese companies to list overseas.
Moonshot AI did not respond to a request for comment on its IPO plans. According to Bloomberg, the startup was founded in early 2023 by Yang Zhilin, a former Tsinghua University professor. Before founding Moonshot AI, Yang Zhilin worked at Meta and Google. The company’s Chinese name means “Dark Side of the Moon” and was inspired by Yang Zhilin’s favorite Pink Floyd album.
China’s artificial intelligence race intensifies
Since its inception, Moonshot AI has competed with major Chinese AI companies such as DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, MiniMax and Z.AI. Previously, companies such as DeepSeek received more attention in the Chinese artificial intelligence market, but Moonshot AI continues to develop advanced artificial intelligence models. The success of the Kimi K3 shows that Chinese AI companies are now competing on performance and technology, rather than just offering lower prices.
Moonshot AI prices the Kimi K3 similarly to Anthropic’s Sonnet model. The pricing suggests the company believes its AI models are powerful enough to charge more than many other Chinese AI competitors. Moonshot AI makes money by selling paid chatbot subscriptions. The company also provides artificial intelligence technology to commercial and enterprise customers.
Moonshot AI future plans
Moonshot AI recently launched a new general artificial intelligence agent called Kimi Work. Even with its rapid growth, Moonshot AI’s business is still smaller than Z.AI’s, which is expected to have annual sales of about $1 billion. moon landing AI IPO plan As the Chinese government increases its support for the development of domestic artificial intelligence.
Chinese President Xi Jinping praised China’s progress in developing low-cost artificial intelligence technology and called for a more open global technology environment, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek is also planning an IPO, but it is expected to take place in 2027. DeepSeek is also raising more private equity funding to expand its artificial intelligence offerings and compete globally by offering AI services at lower prices than many U.S. companies.
