Moonshot AI has reportedly opened a pre-IPO G-round financing at a $50 billion valuation, with institutional investors registering commitments after the launch of its Kimi K3 model.
A person familiar with the deal said interest intensified following the Kimi K3 release, though the amount being raised was not disclosed and Moonshot has not publicly confirmed the financing. Reports that the company planned to file for a Hong Kong IPO this month are untrue, according to the same source.
The Chinese AI lab, developer of the Kimi chatbot, closed a $3.5 billion round at a $35 billion valuation in early August, and the new round would mark a sharp step up as demand for its models grows. Moonshot’s Kimi K3 is among the largest open-weight models, competing with offerings from DeepSeek and Alibaba.
The reported raise continues a pattern of escalating valuations for China’s frontier AI labs, even as the sector faces scrutiny over export controls and computing access. For Moonshot, the G-round would provide a war chest to fund model development and compute as it positions for a potential listing.
