Alibaba and Tencent increase investment! Kimi valuation surpasses $10 billion

Alibaba and Tencent Increase Investment

As numerous AI applications compete fiercely in the “Spring Festival Red Envelope War,” AI unicorn Moonshot AI’s product Kimi has quietly made a big move—just over a month after completing a $500 million Series C funding round, a new round of over $700 million is nearing the final stages of closing.

This round of financing is led jointly by old shareholders including Alibaba, Tencent, Wuyuan, and Jiuan. The company’s valuation has surpassed $10 billion, officially entering the global unicorn ranks, injecting a different capital signal into the lively Spring Festival AI track.

Kimi Sets Industry Financing Record in Nearly a Year

In just two months, Kimi’s total financing has exceeded $1.2 billion, setting the highest financing record in China’s large model industry in nearly a year. Notably, as this round of financing approaches completion, Kimi has already initiated the next funding plan with a valuation target of $10 billion to $12 billion.

Looking back, Kimi’s previous $500 million Series C financing was completed in December 2025 with significant oversubscription, and the company has ample cash reserves. Moonshot AI founder and CEO Yang Zhilin stated in an internal all-hands email that the company has more than 10 billion RMB in cash reserves.

Yang Zhilin mentioned in the email, “Compared to the secondary market, we believe we can raise even more funds from the primary market. In fact, our Series B/C rounds exceeded most IPO fundraising and targeted placements by listed companies. So, we are not in a hurry to go public in the short term, nor is going public our goal.”

Unlike Kimi, some large model companies have already officially entered the capital market.

On January 8, Zhipu (02513.HK) officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. This marks the world’s first publicly listed company centered on general artificial intelligence (AGI) foundational models. During Zhipu’s IPO, the Hong Kong public offering was oversubscribed by 1,159.46 times, and international offerings by 15.28 times. Based on an issue price of HKD 116.20 per share, Zhipu raised over HKD 4.3 billion. In just six trading days, Zhipu’s stock price has increased by 150%, with a latest market value exceeding HKD 220 billion.

On January 9, Shanghai AI large model company MiniMax (00100.HK) listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In nearly three trading days, its stock price has risen by 65%, with a current market value exceeding HKD 260 billion.

AI Competition Enters a New Stage

As one of the leading companies among China’s “Six Little Tigers” of large models, Kimi’s financing enthusiasm reflects profound industry competition differentiation.

Recently, JPMorgan Securities (China) released a research report titled “China’s Artificial Intelligence Industry: Global Deployment and Model Innovation Driving a New Generation of Leaders.” The report states that China’s AI industry is moving from the “Hundred Models Battle” phase toward a stage where commercialization capability, model innovation strength, and global deployment are key to success or failure. The Chinese AI market is rapidly consolidating, with the number of capable and well-funded model developers shrinking from over 200 to less than 10.

The report also suggests that the main focus of large model competition is shifting from technological race to building business systems.

Public information shows that Kimi’s core team is led by Tsinghua University Cross-Information Research Institute assistant professor Yang Zhilin, with many core members coming from tech giants like Google and Meta. Its long-text processing technology has formed a differentiated competitive advantage. According to internal communications, Kimi’s global paid user growth rate is 170% per month. Driven by the K2 Thinking large model, Kimi’s overseas large model API revenue has increased fourfold.

Industry analysts believe that with continued increases in computing power investment and the gradual landing of commercial scenarios, leading independent large model vendors are expected to break through in a market dominated by platform giants by deepening vertical fields and technological innovation, providing the industry with a “structurally neutral” option—through APIs, enterprise licensing, or private deployment to directly monetize, avoiding customer dependence on a single ecosystem.