Valuation Exceeds 200 Billion, Kimi Secures Another 136 Billion in Funding, Hong Kong IPO Speeds Up

According to a report on June 8th by Zhidx, recently, Beijing-based AI large model unicorn Kimi is in talks for a new round of financing. The maximum financing scale could reach $2 billion (approximately RMB 13.6 billion), and the target valuation is $30 billion (approximately RMB 203.5 billion).

If this round of financing is completed as targeted, Kimi's valuation will increase by about 6 times compared to its valuation of $4.3 billion (approximately RMB 29.8 billion) in December last year. This will also be the third round of financing launched by Kimi in the past six months.

Just last month, Kimi completed a financing round of approximately $2 billion (approximately RMB 13.6 billion), and its post-investment valuation exceeded $20 billion (approximately RMB 135.6 billion). This round of financing was led by Meituan Longzhu, with participation from Shuimu Capital, China Mobile, CPE (CITIC Industrial Fund), etc.

According to a previous report by Huafeng Capital, Kimi has completed 6 rounds of financing, with a total financing amount exceeding RMB 37.6 billion. It is the company with the highest cumulative financing amount among domestic large model startups.

▲ Kimi's past financing situation (Chart by Zhidx, data source: Qichacha)

Kimi was founded in Beijing in 2023. Its founder and CEO, Yang Zhilin, graduated from the Department of Computer Science at Tsinghua University with a bachelor's degree and from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) with a doctorate. He has previously worked at Google Brain and Meta AI.

Kimi's core product is the Kimi Intelligent Assistant. On April 20th, Kimi released and open-sourced its flagship model, Kimi K2.6. In multiple global authoritative benchmark tests, K2.6 performed equally or even better than top closed-source models such as GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro in some dimensions.

As of today, in the Benchmarks list of OpenRouter, Kimi K2.6 ranks 9th in the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index list, with a score of 53.9, behind MiniMax-M3 and ahead of Xiaomi MiMo-V2.5-Pro.

▲ Kimi K2.6 ranks 9th in the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index list (Source: OpenRouter)

On the product side, on June 3rd, Kimi launched the beta test of Kimi Work, which is positioned as a local general agent for knowledge workers. Users can describe task goals in natural language, and Kimi Work can break down tasks, call tools, use browsers, create and organize files on the local computer, and deliver work products such as documents, spreadsheets, and PPTs.

In terms of commercialization, Kimi has begun to generate a certain scale of revenue. According to a previous disclosure by Huafeng Capital, Kimi's annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeded $200 million (approximately RMB 1.36 billion) in April, and the revenue from paid subscriptions and APIs is growing rapidly.

In terms of the listing progress, on March 26th, according to Bloomberg, Kimi is recently preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong. A person familiar with the matter said that Kimi is in the early stage, and its purpose is to arouse investors' interest in AI. Another person familiar with the matter revealed that Kimi's related preparatory work is still in progress, and it may not necessarily launch an IPO in the end.

Overall, since 2026, the capitalization process of domestic large model leading enterprises has significantly accelerated. On the one hand, companies such as Kimi and Jieyue Xingchen have completed large-scale financings in quick succession, and it was also reported last week that DeepSeek is about to complete its first external financing since its establishment. On the other hand, companies such as Zhipu and MiniMax have taken the lead in entering the Hong Kong stock market and are continuing to promote the related work for A-share listing.

Globally, overseas leading AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing for listing, constantly refreshing financing and valuation records. In March this year, OpenAI completed a financing of $122 billion (approximately RMB 827.2 billion), and its post-investment valuation reached $852 billion (approximately RMB 5.78 trillion). On June 1st, Anthropic announced the completion of a $65 billion (approximately RMB 440.7 billion) Series H financing, with a post-investment valuation of $965 billion (approximately RMB 6.53 trillion), and secretly submitted its prospectus the next day.

Against this background, the financing and IPO pace of domestic large model enterprises has significantly accelerated. Capital, computing power, and commercialization capabilities are becoming key variables beyond model competition. For large model companies still in the high-investment cycle, large-scale financing and IPO are not only ways to replenish ammunition but also important chips for competing for the leading position in the next stage.

This article is from the WeChat official account “Zhidx” (ID: zhidxcom), written by Yang Jingli, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.