Chinese artificial intelligence startup Moonshot AI has reached a valuation of $4.8 billion in a new funding round, marking a $500 million surge from its valuation just one month prior. According to sources, witnessing the strong performance of comparable firms like KNOWLEDGE ATLAS and MiniMax in the Hong Kong stock market, investors have rapidly reassessed Kimi's value.
Moonshot AI, one of China's prominent "Six Little Dragons" of AI, is currently undergoing a new round of fundraising.
On January 19, CNBC reported, citing informed sources, that the Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI achieved a $4.8 billion valuation in its latest funding round, a $500 million increase from its valuation level a month ago.
The immediate catalyst for this valuation jump stems from the public market performance of its peers. Earlier this year, Chinese AI companies KNOWLEDGE ATLAS and MiniMax saw their share prices rise sharply after listing in Hong Kong.
(MiniMax has accumulated gains of nearly 10%, while KNOWLEDGE ATLAS has surged 70%).
Analysis suggests that as the path to listing for domestic Chinese AI companies is being validated, both international and local venture capital firms are competing to secure investment positions before the next wave of IPOs, thereby driving up the valuation benchmarks for leading contenders.
The primary market is reacting swiftly to these developments.
The rapid adjustment in Moonshot AI's valuation stems from investors chasing after China's pre-IPO AI targets. The report cites sources stating that after seeing the impressive performance of comparable companies in the Hong Kong stock market, investors quickly revalued Kimi. Due to strong subscription demand, this funding round is expected to close very quickly.
They added that, given the surging market interest in potential Chinese AI listings, the company's valuation could climb further in subsequent funding rounds.
Despite competitors having already taken the first step towards the capital markets, founder Yang Zhilin has demonstrated strong strategic resolve. In recent AI industry summits and internal communications, he clearly stated that Moonshot AI is currently in no rush to advance its IPO process.
Yang Zhilin previously revealed that the company currently holds ample cash reserves exceeding 10 billion yuan, giving Moonshot AI the capital to maintain its own pace in what it sees as a long-term race.
He believes the competition in large language models is far from entering its final stages, and the current focus should be on developing the next-generation reasoning models (the K3 series) and expanding the underlying computing power clusters, with the goal of achieving a leap in the upper limit of intelligence.
According to previous reports, Moonshot AI attracted participation from well-known institutions such as IDG Capital, Alibaba Group, and Tencent Holdings in a funding round last December.
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