Kimi exploded in popularity, and Moonshot's valuation surged to $18 billion, quadrupling in less than three months!

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AI startup Moonshot is conducting a new round of financing of up to $1 billion at a valuation of around $18 billion, with its valuation increasing more than fourfold in less than three months.

On Saturday, according to Hard AI, Moonshot has begun negotiations for its latest financing round, with a valuation reaching $18 billion. Earlier this year, the company completed a financing round of over $700 million, with a valuation of $10 billion; in a $500 million round at the end of last year, its valuation was only $4.3 billion.

Kimi Claw has experienced explosive growth. According to Hard AI, after its launch, Kimi Claw’s revenue in 20 days since late January has surpassed the full-year revenue projection for 2025. Additionally, global payment giant Stripe’s data shows a month-on-month growth in Kimi personal subscription user payment orders of 8,280% in January.

Moonshot was founded by former Tsinghua University professor Yang Zhiyin, who previously participated in AI project development at Meta Platforms Inc. and Google. Founder Yang Zhiyin stated in an internal letter, "The amount raised exceeds most IPO fundraising and directional placements for listed companies. We believe we can raise even more funds from the primary market."

Record-setting three rounds of financing, rare speed of valuation leap

In less than three months, Moonshot has completed three consecutive financing rounds, setting a record for the most financing rounds among domestic large model companies in recent years, and becoming the fastest "decacorn" company in China to break the $10 billion valuation threshold.

Previously, existing shareholders Alibaba, Tencent, and 5Y Capital all increased their investments in the $10 billion valuation round. The participants in the latest round are still unclear.

Looking at the trajectory of its valuation, Moonshot has achieved a triple jump from $4.3 billion to $18 billion in just a few months.

Kimi Claw ignites growth, subscription data stands out

Following the launch of Kimi Claw, explosive growth ensued. Moonshot was among the first to capitalize on the industry trend driven by the open-source intelligent agent OpenClaw, launching Kimi Claw powered by the latest Kimi K2.5 model, becoming one of the first companies in China to commercialize this trend.

Stripe’s data shows that Kimi’s personal subscription user payment orders grew 8,280% month-on-month in January, with another 123.8% month-on-month increase in February, placing it in the global top ten on Stripe’s leaderboard.

Moonshot currently offers tiered subscription services for individual users, while also providing foundational technical capabilities to enterprise clients.

Moonshot’s financing momentum is a microcosm of China’s AI investment wave. In Hong Kong, competitors Zhipu and MiniMax Group Inc. recently had deal valuations ranging from $30 billion to $40 billion, with MiniMax once surpassing Baidu in market value.

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