Chinese AI startup Moonshot AI has raised roughly $2 billion in fresh funding, pushing its valuation beyond $20 billion as investors continue pouring money into companies building large AI models in China.
According to statements from financial advisor Huafeng Capital, the round was led by Meituan’s investment arm Long-Z Investments, with participation from Shuimu Capital, China Mobile, and CPE Yuanfeng. The financing marks another major jump for the Beijing-based company, which was reportedly valued at $4.3 billion late last year, then climbed to $10 billion earlier this year following a separate $700 million raise.
Bloomberg reported that Moonshot’s latest round shows how quickly investor appetite has grown for Chinese AI companies trying to challenge American players such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
Kimi chatbot drives revenue growth
Moonshot AI was founded in 2023 by Yang Zhilin, a former researcher at Meta and Google Brain and a Tsinghua University academic.
The company builds the Kimi series of open-weight large language models and sells both subscription services and enterprise AI tools. The company’s rapid rise has largely been fueled by its Kimi chatbot and its open-weight large language models, which have gained popularity among developers and enterprise users.
Huafeng Capital said Moonshot’s annual recurring revenue surpassed $200 million in April, driven by growth in paid subscriptions and API usage. Moonshot now competes directly with products such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, as well as Chinese rivals including DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen, and ByteDance’s Doubao.
Its latest models, including Kimi K2.5 and K2.6, have gained attention for strong performance in coding and real-world usage, with K2.6 reportedly becoming one of the most-used large language models on OpenRouter, according to TechCrunch.
China’s AI race heats up
Moonshot’s peers are also seeing strong investor momentum. MiniMax and Zhipu AI have both reached valuations above $30 billion following public market activity in Hong Kong, while DeepSeek is reportedly exploring new fundraising at valuations as high as $45–50 billion.
Bloomberg noted that investor appetite is increasingly focused on a small group of elite Chinese AI firms building large-scale models and chatbot platforms.
The fresh capital is expected to go into scaling model development, expanding enterprise sales, and strengthening infrastructure as competition intensifies across China’s AI sector. With valuations rising quickly and investor demand still strong, Moonshot AI now stands among the most closely watched challengers in the global race to build next-generation AI systems.
For a closer look at how China is blending AI, robotics, and urban management, check out eWeek’s coverage of Hangzhou’s new robot traffic police squad now directing crowds and spotting violations in one of the country’s busiest tourist hubs.