Moonshot AI, the Chinese startup behind the Kimi chatbot, is preparing to go public in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg. Citing sources, Bloomberg reports the company has told investors it could list in as early as six months, aiming to seize the chance to tap capital markets.
The move comes as Moonshot's business is growing quickly. According to Bloomberg, the company's annual recurring revenue — a measure of the revenue it expects over a year based on current subscriptions — reached $300 million in June. That is up from $200 million in April, a jump of $100 million in roughly two months.
Moonshot is one of the more closely watched names in China's crowded field of artificial intelligence developers. Its Kimi models compete with a wave of homegrown rivals as well as U.S. systems.
A separate report from finance.biggo.com, carried via Google News, tied the IPO plans to the unveiling of a new model it called "Kimi K3," and said the developments "rattled" U.S. markets. That characterization comes from that outlet's headline rather than from Bloomberg's reporting.
An IPO would give Moonshot access to fresh capital at a moment when training and running large AI models remains expensive, and when investors are eager for exposure to the sector. A Hong Kong listing would also mark another sign of Chinese AI firms turning to their home region's markets rather than U.S. exchanges.
Why it matters: A public listing by a leading Chinese AI startup, backed by fast-rising revenue, would be a fresh test of investor appetite for the technology outside the United States.