Alibaba emerges as major backer of high-flying Chinese start-up Moonshot AI, with 36% stake
- Alibaba said it has has invested around ‘US$0.8 billion for an approximately 36 per cent equity interest’ in Moonshot AI
- Tencent is also in talks with Moonshot for the firm’s new round of financing at a lofty US$3 billion valuation, the Post reported on Tuesday
Alibaba Group Holding has emerged as a major backer of Moonshot AI, one of China’s hottest artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, holding a 36 per cent stake in the firm, according to the e-commerce giant’s annual report.
Alibaba has “invested a total of approximately US$0.8 billion (about RMB5.9 billion) for an approximately 36 per cent equity interest” in Moonshot AI in the past fiscal year 2024, the company said in its annual report filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
That values Beijing-based Moonshot AI, also known as Yuezhi Anmian in Chinese, at approximately US$2.2 billion, which is close to the figures reported by local media in February.
Moonshot AI was said to be raising more than US$1 billion at a lofty US$2.5 billion valuation at the time, according to local outlets including 36Kr.
Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, is among a group of Chinese tech heavyweights that have been scrambling to offer a local rival to ChatGPT, ever since that generative AI technology was debuted in November 2022 by San Francisco-based start-up OpenAI.
