China’s AI chatbot labs are currently attracting big investors.
In a week when rival DeepSeek is reported to be raising at a $45bn valuation, Moonshot AI, the maker of the popular Kimi AI models, has beaten it to the headlines with its own $2bn raise.
The round was led by Meituan Dragonball, with participation from Shuimu Capital, China Mobile and CPE Yuanfeng, among others, according to a statement from Huafeng Capital, the financial advisor to some of the investors in the transaction.
The news comes as the Financial Times cited sources saying Moonshot’s biggest rival DeepSeek could be valued at around $45bn as it looks set to raise some $4bn to $5bn in the coming days.
DeepSeek took the world by storm in January 2025 when it released its powerful large language model R1, sending Silicon Valley leaders into a flurry as the start-up claimed that its model was leagues cheaper than its US competitors – costing only $5.6m to train – while performing on par with models from industry heavyweights like OpenAI and Anthropic.
