#月之暗面传以500亿美元估值Pre-IPO Kimi K3 explodes in popularity! The mysterious “Dark Side of the Moon” reportedly kicks off a Pre-IPO funding round
On July 22, Bloomberg reported today that the company behind the Dark Side of the Moon plans to begin the final round of private financing talks before going public in Hong Kong in August, aiming for a pre-money valuation of $50 billion, about RMB 339 billion.
The sudden breakout of the Kimi k3 model has given this company—founded 3 years ago—new room for valuation imagination.
Half a year ago, the Dark Side of the Moon’s valuation was still $4.3 billion; now the latest round’s pre-money valuation has risen to $31.5 billion, about RMB 213.5 billion. If the August round closes at $50 billion, then in less than a year, the valuation would jump from $4.3 billion to $50 billion—up more than 7 times.
Behind it is a financing curve with the accelerator pushed to the floor.
Just after the first half of 2026, the Dark Side of the Moon has already reached its fifth round of funding. In China’s large-model unicorn landscape, there isn’t a second company with comparable fundraising momentum and density. The money is coming in faster than product releases. From January to February this year, the company completed three rounds of financing in succession, with amounts of $500 million, $700 million, and $700 million, respectively. Its valuation climbed from $10 billion to $18 billion. Then in May it raised about $2 billion more, pushing post-money valuation above $20 billion. A new round was launched in June, and the pre-money valuation jumped to $31.5 billion.
This round is expected to close within the next few days. After completion, the Dark Side of the Moon will immediately kick off Pre-IPO negotiations.
Bloomberg reports that the company could enter Hong Kong’s capital markets in as little as 6 months. Notably, the acceleration of financing and the release of Kimi k3 are almost perfectly synchronized. After the model was released, user engagement and call volume surged, prompting investors to reprice the company’s commercialization prospects.
Model heat has become the hardest anchor for valuation.
A $50 billion pre-money valuation is not low on a global scale. OpenAI’s valuation in a 2025 funding round was about $500 billion (according to The Financial Times), while Anthropic’s was about $183 billion in the same period (according to Reuters). If the Dark Side of the Moon hits its target, its scale would be close to one quarter of Anthropic.
The domestic rankings make the point even clearer. According to Caixin, Zhipu AI is valued at about RMB 200 billion, while MiniMax, Baichuan Intelligence, and others are mostly in the range of tens of billions of dollars. If the Dark Side of the Moon closes this round at $50 billion, it will clearly pull away from peers in the same cohort. But the faster the valuation rises, the more directly the problem comes.
Whether a large-model company’s revenue can support the valuation—built through fundraising—ultimately has to be settled by financial statements. The Dark Side of the Moon is placing its bet on the Kimi C-end market. Kimi k3 focuses on long-form text and Agent capabilities (Agent, an intelligent agent that can autonomously orchestrate tools to complete multi-step tasks). After its release, call volume surged.
According to the company’s disclosures, Kimi’s monthly active users have remained firmly in the top domestic tier. Hong Kong’s tolerance for unprofitable technology companies is a key reason the Dark Side of the Moon is targeting Hong Kong rather than the U.S. Under the 18C chapter rules, unprofitable specialized technology companies are allowed to list; companies like SenseTime and Horizon Robotics have taken this route as well. However, liquidity in Hong Kong stocks tends to be thin, and there are plenty of cases where listings quickly fall below the offering price. From $4.3 billion to $50 billion, the Dark Side of the Moon has completed in one year what other companies may take 3 to 5 years to do.
When the “valuation rocket” is kept alive by successive funding rounds, what truly determines where it lands is whether Kimi can turn traffic into sustainable revenue.
Do you think when the Dark Side of the Moon lists in Hong Kong, Kimi k3’s commercialization revenue can support a $50 billion valuation?
On July 22, Bloomberg reported today that the company behind the Dark Side of the Moon plans to begin the final round of private financing talks before going public in Hong Kong in August, aiming for a pre-money valuation of $50 billion, about RMB 339 billion.
The sudden breakout of the Kimi k3 model has given this company—founded 3 years ago—new room for valuation imagination.
Half a year ago, the Dark Side of the Moon’s valuation was still $4.3 billion; now the latest round’s pre-money valuation has risen to $31.5 billion, about RMB 213.5 billion. If the August round closes at $50 billion, then in less than a year, the valuation would jump from $4.3 billion to $50 billion—up more than 7 times.
Behind it is a financing curve with the accelerator pushed to the floor.
Just after the first half of 2026, the Dark Side of the Moon has already reached its fifth round of funding. In China’s large-model unicorn landscape, there isn’t a second company with comparable fundraising momentum and density. The money is coming in faster than product releases. From January to February this year, the company completed three rounds of financing in succession, with amounts of $500 million, $700 million, and $700 million, respectively. Its valuation climbed from $10 billion to $18 billion. Then in May it raised about $2 billion more, pushing post-money valuation above $20 billion. A new round was launched in June, and the pre-money valuation jumped to $31.5 billion.
This round is expected to close within the next few days. After completion, the Dark Side of the Moon will immediately kick off Pre-IPO negotiations.
Bloomberg reports that the company could enter Hong Kong’s capital markets in as little as 6 months. Notably, the acceleration of financing and the release of Kimi k3 are almost perfectly synchronized. After the model was released, user engagement and call volume surged, prompting investors to reprice the company’s commercialization prospects.
Model heat has become the hardest anchor for valuation.
A $50 billion pre-money valuation is not low on a global scale. OpenAI’s valuation in a 2025 funding round was about $500 billion (according to The Financial Times), while Anthropic’s was about $183 billion in the same period (according to Reuters). If the Dark Side of the Moon hits its target, its scale would be close to one quarter of Anthropic.
The domestic rankings make the point even clearer. According to Caixin, Zhipu AI is valued at about RMB 200 billion, while MiniMax, Baichuan Intelligence, and others are mostly in the range of tens of billions of dollars. If the Dark Side of the Moon closes this round at $50 billion, it will clearly pull away from peers in the same cohort. But the faster the valuation rises, the more directly the problem comes.
Whether a large-model company’s revenue can support the valuation—built through fundraising—ultimately has to be settled by financial statements. The Dark Side of the Moon is placing its bet on the Kimi C-end market. Kimi k3 focuses on long-form text and Agent capabilities (Agent, an intelligent agent that can autonomously orchestrate tools to complete multi-step tasks). After its release, call volume surged.
According to the company’s disclosures, Kimi’s monthly active users have remained firmly in the top domestic tier. Hong Kong’s tolerance for unprofitable technology companies is a key reason the Dark Side of the Moon is targeting Hong Kong rather than the U.S. Under the 18C chapter rules, unprofitable specialized technology companies are allowed to list; companies like SenseTime and Horizon Robotics have taken this route as well. However, liquidity in Hong Kong stocks tends to be thin, and there are plenty of cases where listings quickly fall below the offering price. From $4.3 billion to $50 billion, the Dark Side of the Moon has completed in one year what other companies may take 3 to 5 years to do.
When the “valuation rocket” is kept alive by successive funding rounds, what truly determines where it lands is whether Kimi can turn traffic into sustainable revenue.
Do you think when the Dark Side of the Moon lists in Hong Kong, Kimi k3’s commercialization revenue can support a $50 billion valuation?
