Chinese artificial intelligence unicorn Moonshot AI, whose release of its Kimi K3 model last week
sparked talk of another “DeepSeek moment”
, has accelerated its fundraising ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, eyeing a new financing round as early as next month, a source says.
The Beijing-based company was set to close its current funding round at a US$30 billion valuation later this month or early next month, according to a person familiar with the matter. It planned to launch a subsequent round as early as August, the person added.
The start-up was targeting a valuation of up to US$50 billion, in what was expected to be its final private raise before listing, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
Moonshot signalled to investors it may go public in Hong Kong within six months, according to several media reports earlier this week. The firm had begun dismantling its offshore corporate structure earlier this year in preparation for the listing, the South China Morning Post
.
Moonshot did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The breakneck pace of fundraising underscores the relentless momentum in China’s AI sector.