DeepSeek is raising $12 billion or more backed by Tencent and CATL, Moonshot AI prepares Hong Kong IPO
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Publication time restored from the build log. . Updated: .
Money for Chinese open models is growing faster than before, and going public will make these labs even more prominent players in the race.
According to Bloomberg, DeepSeek is raising at least $12 billion (possibly up to $15 billion) against an initial target of $7.5 billion; the largest stakes belong to Tencent and battery maker CATL, and a listing is expected in early 2027. According to Euronews, Moonshot AI (maker of the Kimi chatbot) is preparing a Hong Kong IPO in early 2027 of about $5 billion after a funding round at a $50 billion valuation; annual revenue grew from $300 million in June to about $1 billion. Euronews notes that China's internet regulator is investigating both companies over reports of user data being transferred to Claude.