Moonshot AI IPO: Kimi maker reportedly targets early 2027
The Moonshot AI IPO is aimed at Hong Kong in early 2027, a new report says, after a final round near $50 billion. What's new, and what Kimi earns.
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Moonshot AI, the Beijing startup behind the Kimi chatbot and models, has finished its last private funding round at a valuation of about $50 billion and is aiming for a Hong Kong IPO in the first quarter of 2027. Bloomberg reported the plan on October 6, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter, in a story syndicated by Investing.com. Much of the Moonshot AI IPO story was already out in July and September. Here is what this report adds, what Moonshot actually sells, and how it compares with the Chinese AI labs that listed in Hong Kong this year.
Key takeaways
- What's new: Bloomberg says the final private round is done at about $50 billion. A round this summer valued Moonshot at $31.5 billion.
- The listing plan: Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2027, raising up to $5 billion, with Bank of America as overall coordinator and CICC, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs as sponsor banks. Early investor meetings could start this month.
- The revenue claim: annual recurring revenue (ARR) is about $1 billion now and expected to reach $2 billion by December, according to people cited by Bloomberg. It was about $300 million in June.
- Already known: the $50 billion target was reported in July, and a confidential Hong Kong filing in September.
- Unconfirmed: every figure comes from unnamed sources. The plan is not confirmed by Moonshot AI as of Oct. 6, 2026.
What's new in the Moonshot AI IPO plan
The headline change is that the money is in. According to the version of the Bloomberg story carried by The Edge Malaysia, Moonshot's value has reached $50 billion, up from $31.5 billion in a round this summer, and the company counts Alibaba, Tencent and 5Y Capital among its backers. The same report says the IPO could raise up to $5 billion.
The bank lineup is also new in its full form. Bloomberg names Bank of America as overall coordinator, with China International Capital Corp (CICC), Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs as sponsor banks. Moonshot has started preparing to test investor interest, with preliminary meetings that could begin as soon as this month.
Then there is revenue. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Moonshot's ARR, a measure of yearly sales from subscriptions and recurring contracts, is about $1 billion and should hit $2 billion by December. None of those numbers come from audited accounts. Moonshot representatives did not respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment during a Chinese public holiday.
What was already known
If the IPO sounds familiar, that's because it has been building all year. Here is the trail, in order:
| Date (2026) | What was reported | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| July 19 | Moonshot told investors it was preparing to list in as early as six months | Bloomberg |
| July 30 | Seeking a pre-IPO round at a $50 billion pre-money valuation; CICC and Goldman Sachs as joint underwriters; ARR above $300 million | KrASIA, adapting IPO Zaozhidao |
| September 3 | A confidential Hong Kong filing, a listing in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, and a raise of about $3 billion | The Standard, citing IFR |
| October 6 | Final round done at about $50 billion, Q1 2027 target, up to $5 billion, four banks named | Bloomberg |
So the $50 billion Moonshot AI valuation was a target in July and is reported as done now. The expected raise has grown from about $3 billion to up to $5 billion, and the timing has narrowed to the first quarter of 2027. In September, Moonshot said it had no comment and no information to disclose, The Standard reported.
What Moonshot sells: Kimi and its API
Moonshot makes money two ways. Consumers use Kimi, a chat assistant whose site offers deep research, slide generation, scheduled tasks and agent tasks. Developers and businesses pay for the models through an API, and KrASIA reported in July that API sales made up more than 70% of revenue.
The current flagship is Kimi K3, released in July. Its model page on Hugging Face lists 2.8 trillion total parameters, 104 billion active per token, a context window of about 1 million tokens, and a custom "Kimi K3 License". The weights are public, which is why rivals benchmark against it: when US lab Reflection AI launched its own open model, it conceded that Kimi K3 is still ahead on raw capability, as we covered in our story on Reflection AI's Beam.
Moonshot's rise has also drawn fire. OpenAI accused operators it ties to Moonshot of copying its models' hidden reasoning, a claim that remains unproven, as laid out in our piece on OpenAI's Moonshot distillation claim.
Where it fits among Chinese AI IPOs in Hong Kong
Moonshot would not be first. Two other Chinese AI labs listed in Hong Kong in January, as Yicai Global reported: Zhipu AI debuted on January 8, 2026 and closed its first day 14.4% higher, and MiniMax followed on January 9, selling about 29.2 million shares at HK$165 each and closing its first day 103% higher. Bloomberg's report describes Chinese AI IPOs as a hot topic in 2026 after bumper listings by several frontier labs and chipmakers.
The difference is scale. At up to $5 billion, Moonshot's reported raise would be several times what MiniMax collected. That's also a reason to treat every number here with care until a prospectus is public.
What happens next
- Investor meetings: preliminary sessions could start in October, according to Bloomberg's sources.
- A public prospectus: a Hong Kong listing requires one, and it would be the first audited view of Moonshot's revenue, costs and ownership.
- Pricing and size: no share price, date or final raise has been set publicly.
Bottom line
The new part of the Moonshot AI IPO story is that the last private round has reportedly closed near $50 billion, with four banks lined up and a raise of up to $5 billion planned for Hong Kong in early 2027. The numbers come from people speaking to Bloomberg, and the plan is not confirmed by Moonshot AI as of Oct. 6, 2026. If you use Kimi or its API, nothing changes today; the thing to watch is the prospectus, which would show whether the $1 billion revenue figure holds up.
FAQ
When is the Moonshot AI IPO?
Bloomberg reports a target of the first quarter of 2027 in Hong Kong. No date has been announced, and Moonshot has not confirmed the timing.
How much is Moonshot AI worth?
About $50 billion after its final private round, according to Bloomberg's sources. That compares with $31.5 billion in a round this summer. Neither figure has been confirmed by the company.
Is Moonshot AI publicly traded?
No. Moonshot AI is a private company, and its shares do not trade on any exchange. A listing would come only after a Hong Kong prospectus is published and approved.
What is Kimi K3?
It's Moonshot's flagship AI model, released in July 2026 with public weights. Its Hugging Face page lists 2.8 trillion total parameters and a context window of about 1 million tokens.