Existing backers including Alibaba, Tencent and 5Y Capital have already committed more than US$700 million to the first tranche of the latest round, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing private information. Representatives of Moonshot, Alibaba and 5Y didn’t respond to requests seeking comment. Beijing-based Moonshot last month released its Kimi K2.5, leading a wave of major Chinese AI model upgrades ahead of the crucial weeklong Lunar New Year holiday. Talks around the financing are progressing and it’s not certain if Moonshot can hit its target valuation, the people said. Moonshot was founded by former Tsinghua University professor Yang Zhilin, who had earlier stints working on AI projects at Meta Platforms Inc and Google.

Source: The Edge Markets February 17, 2026 07:15 UTC