Kimi Chatbot Developer Moonshot AI Valued at $20 Billion in Meituan-Led Funding Round

In the latest funding round led by Meituan's venture arm, Moonshot AI raised about $2 billion, pushing its valuation above $20 billion. Financial advisory firm HF Capital said that as of April, annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeded $200 million, driven by Kimi chatbot subscriptions and AI model services.

The pace of the valuation increase was steep.

• Late last year: raised $500 million, valued at $4.3 billion
• Earlier this year: raised $700 million, valued at $10 billion
• Afterward: pursued an additional $1 billion raise
• This round: raised about $2 billion, valued at over $20 billion

The valuation jumped more than 4x within a few months. Funding is pouring into China's AI industry more broadly as well, with DeepSeek preparing its first external fundraising, with a valuation of up to $50 billion being discussed amid interest from state investors. MiniMax and Zhipu AI were valued at over $30 billion following their Hong Kong debuts in January, and they are positioned in a competitive landscape chasing OpenAI and Anthropic. Moonshot was founded by Yang Zhilin, a former Tsinghua University professor and Meta/Google alum.