IT News on October 6th: According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter said that the Dark Side of the Moon ( Moonshot AI ) has completed its final round of private financing before listing, with a valuation of approximately $50 billion; the company plans to conduct its initial public offering ( IPO ) in Hong Kong next year's first quarter.
Some informed sources indicate that this leading domestic artificial intelligence company has already begun preparing for preliminary communication with investors, with the earliest intention to hold preliminary meetings this month in order to assess the attitude of the capital market.
The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most prominent companies in China’s AI arena. In July this year, Kimi K3 officially released its open-source large model. Reports indicate that in various evaluation metrics, this model can almost compete with the leading models of OpenAI and Anthropic. Its IPO has also become one of the most anticipated trading projects in the Hong Kong stock market. People familiar with the matter stated that the planned fundraising limit for this IPO is 5 billion US dollars.
The Information reports that regulatory authorities have initiated data security investigations into Deep Quest (DeepSeek) and the Dark Side of the Moon, leading to stricter regulation in the domestic AI industry. It is still unclear how these changes in the regulatory environment will affect company valuations and the IPO timeline, and market concerns regarding corporate governance and security have also increased.
People familiar with the matter said that all aspects of the work are still in the consultation stage, and there are still variables regarding the IPO timeline.
After multiple rounds of financing, the valuation of this company has continued to rise. When the last round of financing was completed this summer, the valuation was $31.5 billion. People familiar with the matter revealed that the company's annual recurring revenue ( ARR ) is currently $1 billion and is expected to rise to $2 billion by December. Bloomberg previously reported that in June of this year, the company's ARR was $300 million.
Previously, informed sources revealed that this AI laboratory, headquartered in Beijing, has appointed Bank of America as the overall coordinator for this IPO; the sponsoring banks include CICC, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs Group. The company has submitted an application for IPO to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a confidential manner.
Moon's Dark Side was established at the beginning of 2023. Its founder, Yang Zhilin, is formerly a professor at Tsinghua University and has previously worked at Meta Platforms and Google (Alphabet). Alibaba, Tencent, and 5Y Capital (Capital) are all investors in this company.
