Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Moonshot AI is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, and the listing could happen within the next six months. The company has already sent a shareholder resolution to its investors to get their approval for the planned Hong Kong IPO.
Sending the shareholder resolution is one of the first official steps before a company goes public. Moonshot AI is also finishing a new private fundraising round that could value the company at more than $30 billion, according to people familiar with the fundraising cited by Bloomberg. The final terms of the fundraising have not yet been completed.
Moonshot AI revenue grows
The company decided that now is the right time to prepare for an IPO because its annual recurring revenue (ARR) reached $300 million in June. Annual recurring revenue is a measure that shows how much money a company expects to earn every year from subscriptions or long-term customers.
Moonshot AI’s ARR was $200 million in April, showing fast business growth in just two months, according to Bloomberg’s earlier reporting. Investor interest in Moonshot AI increased after the company launched its latest AI model called Kimi K3 on July 17. Kimi K3 is an open-weight AI model, meaning developers can download its model parameters and customize them for their own use.
Kimi K3 beats rivals
The model contains 2.8 trillion parameters, making it one of the largest open-weight AI models released so far. Moonshot AI said Kimi K3 performs better than almost all rival AI models and is behind only Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 in overall capability.
Independent AI research group Artificial Analysis ranked Kimi K3 ahead of Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 on some advanced AI benchmarks. This made Kimi K3 the first Chinese open-weight AI model to achieve that ranking, according to Artificial Analysis, as cited by Bloomberg. The strong performance of Kimi K3 changed how many people viewed China’s AI industry and also affected global technology stocks after its launch.
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Moonshot AI had already been preparing for an IPO even before Kimi K3 was released. The company started considering a Hong Kong listing earlier in 2026. Moonshot AI has held talks with China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and Goldman Sachs about working on the IPO. The company has started removing its “red chip” corporate structure, which is a step that makes it easier for Chinese companies to list overseas.
Moonshot AI did not respond to requests for comment about the IPO plans. The startup was founded in early 2023 by Yang Zhilin, a former Tsinghua University professor, according to Bloomberg. Before starting Moonshot AI, Yang Zhilin worked at Meta and Google. The company’s Chinese name means “Dark Side of the Moon,” inspired by Yang Zhilin’s favorite Pink Floyd album.
China AI race heats up
Since it was founded, Moonshot AI has competed with major Chinese AI companies including DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, MiniMax and Z.AI. Earlier, companies like DeepSeek received more attention in China’s AI market, but Moonshot AI has continued developing advanced AI models. The success of Kimi K3 shows that China’s AI companies are now competing on performance and technology, not just on offering lower prices.
Moonshot AI has priced Kimi K3 at a level similar to Anthropic’s Sonnet models. This pricing shows the company believes its AI model is strong enough to charge more than many other Chinese AI competitors. Moonshot AI earns money by selling paid chatbot subscriptions. The company also provides its AI technology to business and enterprise customers.
Moonshot AI future plans
Moonshot AI recently launched a new general-purpose AI agent called Kimi Work. Even with its rapid growth, Moonshot AI’s business is still smaller than Z.AI, which is expected to reach about $1 billion in annual sales. Moonshot AI’s IPO plans come as the Chinese government increases support for domestic AI development.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has praised China’s progress in developing low-cost AI technologies and has called for a more open global technology environment, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Chinese AI company DeepSeek is also planning an IPO, but it is expected to happen in 2027. DeepSeek is also raising more private funding to expand its AI products and compete globally by offering lower-priced AI services than many U.S. companies.
