Kimi, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup known for its large language model products, has raised $500 million in a Series C funding round, boosting its valuation to about $4.3 billion, its founder said on Tuesday.
Yang Zhilin, founder and chief executive of Kimi developer Moonshot AI, said in an internal letter to staff that the company had completed the financing and now holds more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in cash on its balance sheet, giving it a long runway for expansion in China and overseas.
The funding round was led by venture capital firm IDG Capital, with existing shareholders Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings participating with additional investments, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Kimi is one of several Chinese startups racing to commercialise large language models following the global boom triggered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as Beijing pushes to build domestic alternatives to foreign AI systems amid rising geopolitical tensions.
Yang said Kimi’s number of paying users worldwide has been growing at a monthly rate of 170%, while revenue from overseas application programming interface (API) services has quadrupled, driven by the adoption of its “K2 Thinking” large language model.
“The company has entered a new phase of global expansion,” Yang wrote, adding that the latest funding would be used to invest in computing infrastructure, model training and product development.
Founded in 2023, Moonshot AI has quickly emerged as one of China’s most prominent AI startups, alongside peers such as Baichuan, Zhipu AI and MiniMax. Its Kimi chatbot is best known in China for its long-context processing capabilities and use in enterprise applications such as document analysis, research assistance and coding.
China’s AI sector has seen strong investor interest over the past year despite a broader slowdown in venture capital activity, as investors bet that generative AI will become a key driver of productivity growth and technological self-reliance.
Regulators in China have encouraged the development of domestic AI technologies while requiring firms to comply with strict content and data security rules.
The fresh capital positions Kimi among the best-funded AI startups in China and gives it one of the largest cash reserves in the sector, potentially allowing it to compete more aggressively with both domestic rivals and overseas AI developers.
