Kimi Nears $600 Million Funding Round, IDG Reportedly to Join

Chinese AI startup Moonshot (developer of the large language model Kimi) is reportedly finalizing a new funding round of about $600 million, valuing the company at roughly $3.8 billion pre-money. Sources say IDG Capital is set to lead the round, with existing investors including Tencent, 5Y Capital, and Today Capital expected to participate. IDG is said to be in the final decision stage. If completed, the deal would push Kimi’s valuation past $4.1 billion, placing it alongside MiniMax and Zhipu as one of China’s top-valued AI model startups.

Over the past year, Kimi has drawn widespread attention after securing over $1 billion in funding and assembling a star-studded investor lineup featuring Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and Xiaohongshu. Once considered the most promising candidate for a mass-market AI product in China, Kimi has since faced headwinds — including marketing disputes and fierce competition from DeepSeek. As of September 2025, its monthly active users stood at around $27 million, well below ByteDance’s Doubao ($250 million) and DeepSeek ($170 million).

In response, Moonshot has been adjusting its strategy, embracing open-source development, launching the K2 model, and introducing its paid product “OK Computer.” If the new funding goes through, it would signal that investors still have faith in Moonshot’s consumer-focused path — and that China’s large-model race is far from over.（Source：Move37，Tencent）