Moonshot AI targets Hong Kong IPO after reported $50 billion valuation

China's Moonshot AI is preparing for a Hong Kong initial public offering that could bring in up to $5 billion in the first quarter of 2027, according to a media report citing people familiar with the matter. Its final private financing round reportedly valued the Kimi chatbot developer at about $50 billion.

The Beijing-based company's valuation compares with $31.5 billion in a funding round over the summer. The proposed listing schedule remains subject to change. Moonshot has begun arranging preliminary investor meetings, with Bank of America coordinating the offering and China International Capital Corp, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs serving as sponsors, the report said.

Moonshot counts Alibaba and Tencent among its backers. Its annual recurring revenue reportedly rose to about $1 billion from $300 million in June. Yang Zhilin, who previously worked at Meta AI and Google Brain, founded the company in early 2023.

Separately, Hangzhou-based DeepSeek is nearing a financing round worth at least 80 billion yuan, according to a media report. Tencent and battery producer CATL are among the biggest investors. Investor demand could lift the amount to around 100 billion yuan, compared with the roughly 50 billion yuan initially sought.

DeepSeek reportedly sought a valuation of about 500 billion yuan. It has engaged CITIC Securities to help prepare a possible flotation on Shanghai's technology-focused STAR Market, but no public confirmation has been given for the offering's schedule, size or valuation.

Media reports said the Cyberspace Administration of China is investigating whether both developers sent sensitive user data to Anthropic's Claude chatbot. Anthropic has accused the companies of training their own models using its model. The possible effect of the investigation on their listing plans remains unclear.