After Zhipu and MiniMax listed in Hong Kong earlier this year, who becomes the third large-model company to land is still open, but the field of serious contenders is thin.
New reporting says Moonshot has confidentially submitted an A1 filing to the Hong Kong exchange, formally starting the IPO process, and is raising a pre-IPO round at a pre-money valuation of US$50 billion. Moonshot declined to comment.
It is not alone. StepFun was reported planning a Hong Kong listing by year-end. DeepSeek is also said to be preparing a domestic IPO, possibly filing this year for a 2027 debut. As listing rumours spread, all three have fundraised furiously this year, with capital scrambling for the last seats on the large-model boat.
The fight for the capital and listing window
Alongside the IPO news, an investor told Sohu Tech that Moonshot is in a pre-IPO round where participants invest through a designated underlying direct fund, at a pre-money valuation of US$50 billion. Basically pre-sold and locked, 30 million yuan minimum. The domestic entity has completed joint-stock reform and is advancing Hong Kong listing prep, expected to file in the third quarter. The latest report says Moonshot secretly submitted this week.
Since late last year, after Zhipu and MiniMax launched and completed Hong Kong listings, other foundation-model startups opened new rounds. Moonshot has been the most aggressive. Public records show that since founder Yang Zhilin’s November post announcing US$500 million, Moonshot has run five rounds this year, disclosing cumulative funding of US$7.9 billion, about 53 billion yuan, with Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, IDG and Five YSource among the names.
Its valuation rocketed from US$4.3 billion to US$50 billion, about 335.5 billion yuan, in just eight months, more than a tenfold jump.
In July, alongside a US$3.5 billion-plus Series F, the domestic entity became a joint-stock company, with executive and shareholder changes. Yang Zhilin’s title shifted from director to chairman and manager. Yang holds 51.83 per cent, and with co-founders holds 65.63 per cent. Nine domestic institutions including the national social security fund joined as shareholders in late June.
Versus the secondary market, we judge we can raise far more from primary. So we are not in a hurry to list, and listing is not our goal, Yang wrote in an internal letter late last year. Moonshot did exactly that, becoming the most-funded startup. But as peers list and capital floods in, the unhurried Moonshot may also be unable to sit still.
After YI Qi of Megvii took the helm at StepFun, it too drew multiple large rounds: 5 billion yuan in January, nearly US$2.5 billion in May, then about 600 million yuan strategic from three listed firms. Its listing is quicker: after dismantling the red-chip structure and completing reform, it planned a confidential Hong Kong filing by end-June, targeting a year-end debut. Moonshot and StepFun became the strongest contenders for third large-model listing.
DeepSeek, which once said it would not raise, also opened a large round. After a 51 billion yuan first round in July led by Liang Wenfeng with Tencent, CATL, NetEase, JD, IDG and the national AI industry fund, it opened a second round targeting another 50 billion yuan, at a pre-money valuation of 500 billion yuan. That makes it China’s highest-valued independent large-model company, above Zhipu’s 420 billion-plus and Moonshot’s 330 billion-plus.
Market chatter says DeepSeek began IPO prep, contacting accountants and bank advisers, planning a mainland China listing, possibly filing this year for a 2027 debut.
The industry window is narrowing. Everyone wants more ammunition before it closes, one AI investor said. None of these unlisted model companies wants to lose the capital war.
The technology and commercial test behind the valuation
The driver of sustained funding and rising valuations is still global-leading technical position, plus accelerating agent and coding ability and application uptake. Moonshot released K2.5, K2.6 and in July K3, then ranked third globally and first in front-end coding. The open question is whether any of them can turn token volume into durable revenue before capital loses patience.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original Sohu IT report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience.
Translated and adapted from Sohu IT (https://www.sohu.com/a/1071912163_115565).