Moonshot AI targets August 27 closing for pre-IPO round ahead of Hong Kong filing

Moonshot AI has told investors that confirmed their interest in its pre-IPO round that the financing will complete its final closing on August 27, according to IPO Zaozhidao. The round, which is underway, values Moonshot AI at about USD 50 billion on a pre-money basis.

IFR, a Reuters publication, reported that Moonshot AI could submit a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as August and is expected to raise about USD 3 billion. Moonshot AI later said the report was inaccurate.

IPO Zaozhidao understands that Moonshot AI plans to submit its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange by September 30, with a listing expected by the end of 2026 or in the first quarter of 2027.

Corporate registration records show that Moonshot AI’s onshore entity completed its conversion into a joint stock limited company on July 29, changing its entity type from a limited liability company. The change is viewed as a sign that the company is further standardizing its corporate governance structure and preparing for future capital markets activity.

Reports in May said Moonshot AI had notified shareholders that it had begun adjusting its variable interest entity and red-chip structures, both commonly used by Chinese companies to list offshore, to remove obstacles to a potential Hong Kong listing. Part of the restructuring was expected to be completed around July. Based on currently available onshore corporate registration records, it is not yet possible to confirm whether all of the structural changes have been completed. Some registration information may also be subject to update delays.

For investors participating in the round, one key expectation is to secure shares in Moonshot AI from the private market before a potential listing and gain greater liquidity once the company enters the public market.

The financing is progressing as several developments converge, including the release of Kimi K3, growth in commercialization metrics, and greater clarity around a potential Hong Kong IPO window.

Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 on July 17. At the time, Kimi K3 ranked first on Arena’s Frontend leaderboard with a score of 1,679 and placed first in six of seven subcategories, demonstrating its competitiveness in front-end code generation use cases.

Kimi K3’s API pricing has also drawn market attention. Based on publicly available pricing, cached input, uncached input, and output are priced at USD 0.3, USD 3, and USD 15 per million tokens, respectively. Its output pricing is notably higher than the corresponding price for K2.6.

More importantly, Kimi K3 has provided a further test of Moonshot AI’s pricing power. Kimi K3’s API output price of USD 15 per million tokens is nearly four times K2.6’s USD 4, while subscriptions sold out within 48 hours of launch, suggesting that users are willing to pay roughly four times as much for a stronger model.

Growth in Moonshot AI’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) accelerated significantly after Kimi K3’s release. On July 18, company president Zhang Yutong said enterprise ARR had grown severalfold. The statement, however, did not disclose the measurement period, the absolute amount, or the specific business scope covered by the figure.

Moonshot AI’s accelerated preparations for a Hong Kong listing could reflect several factors:

Some institutions participating in the transaction have therefore concluded that Moonshot AI’s potential listing window could fall within the next six to eight months, spanning the end of 2026 through the second quarter of 2027, with the first quarter of 2027 seen as a relatively favorable window.

This article was adapted based on a feature originally written by SY and published on IPO Zaozhidao. KrASIA is authorized to translate, adapt, and publish its contents.