AI startup Moonshot AI (Yuezhi Anmian) is reportedly considering a Hong Kong IPO to fuel its growth.

Kimi's Parent Company Moon's Dark Side Eyes Hong Kong IPO

Moon's Dark Side, the parent company behind AI chatbot Kimi, is taking a serious look at a Hong Kong IPO. Sources say the firm is in early-stage talks with CICC and Goldman Sachs about a potential listing.

Timing is still up in the air. The planning is moving forward, but nothing is set in stone—it could still not happen. Spokespeople for Moon's Dark Side and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. CICC didn't respond.

This comes after a busy fundraising period. Earlier this year, the company closed a funding round worth over $700 million. Now it's in discussions for another round—this time up to $1 billion. If that goes through, the valuation would hit roughly $18 billion. For context, its Series C last year was around $4.3 billion. That's a pretty rapid climb.

Founder Yang Zhilin signaled a different stance late last year, though. In an internal memo, he said the company had $1.4 billion in cash and was "in no rush" to go public. There was also a backdoor listing rumor last December, which the company shot down.

Meanwhile, rivals Zhipu and MiniMax have already gone public in Hong Kong. Riding the wave of investor enthusiasm from those listings, Moon's Dark Side has been accelerating its fundraising in the private market.