Moonshot AI raises $2 billion at $20 billion valuation as Chinese open-weight AI models gain investor interest

Moonshot AI, a Beijing-based lab developing the Kimi series of open-weight LLMs (large language models that are publicly available for download and modification), raised about $2 billion at a $20 billion valuation. The round was led by Meituan's VC arm Long-Z Investment, with participation from Tsinghua Capital, China Mobile, and CPE Yuanfeng.

Moonshot's latest model, Kimi K2.6, is currently the second-most used LLM on distribution platform OpenRouter. The company's annual recurring revenue topped $200 million in April, driven by growth in paid subscriptions and API usage.

The fundraising reflects broader investor appetite for open-weight AI models from Chinese labs. Moonshot raised $3.9 billion over the past six months, building on a $700 million raise in early 2026 that valued the company at $10 billion (up from $4.3 billion at the end of 2025).