Moonshot AI raises $2B and is valued at $20B

In short: Moonshot AI, a Beijing-based AI company, raised about $2 billion in new funding at a $20 billion valuation.

What happened

Moonshot AI, the company behind the Kimi series of AI models, raised about $2 billion, according to a post from Huafeng Capital, which advised some of the investors. The funding values the company at $20 billion.

The round was led by Long-Z Investment, the venture capital arm of Chinese food delivery company Meituan, a spokesperson told TechCrunch. Other participants included Tsinghua Capital, China Mobile, and CPE Yuanfeng.

Moonshot has raised $3.9 billion over the past six months, according to Huafeng Capital. Bloomberg previously reported Moonshot was valued at $4.3 billion at the end of 2025, and it later sought a $10 billion valuation in early 2026.

Moonshot was founded in 2023 by Yang Zhilin, who previously worked at Meta AI and Google Brain. Its newer model, Kimi K2.6, is the second-most used large language model on OpenRouter, a marketplace where developers can choose different AI models (like picking a phone plan).

The post also said Moonshot’s annual recurring revenue topped $200 million in April. That growth was driven by more paid subscriptions and more API usage, which means more companies are paying to connect their apps to Moonshot’s AI.

Why it matters

Moonshot’s funding is a sign that investors see strong demand for “open-weight” AI models, which are models that others can download and run themselves, instead of only using a closed service. For regular people, this can lead to more competition in AI tools and, over time, more choices and lower prices for AI features in apps.

Source: TechCrunch AI