Moonshot AI founder’s dispute with 5 investors up for arbitration in Hong Kong

The five firms that invested in Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin’s last venture, Recurrent AI, claim he has ‘uncleared liability’

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Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin. Photo: Future Publishing via Getty Images

Published: 9:00am, 10 Dec 2024

Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin, a rising star in China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, finds himself locked in a legal dispute with GSR Ventures China and four other firms that invested in his last venture, Recurrent AI.

GSR Ventures China managing director Allen Zhu Xiaohu claims that Yang has uncleared liability when he launched Moonshot AI. GSR and the four other firms that helped fund Yang’s previous start-up have filed their case against the entrepreneur with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.

In a statement to the South China Morning Post, Yang said Recurrent AI’s board of directors – including members representing certain investors – had already signed off on Yang’s exit from the firm and pursuit of other ventures. One of China’s leading AI unicorns, Yang’s Moonshot AI is valued at more than US$3 billion.

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the Post, and video-gaming powerhouse Tencent Holdings are key investors in Beijing-based Moonshot AI.

“I have gone through all necessary formalities to leave Recurrent and start a new business,” Yang said in the statement.

In response, GSR’s Zhu asserted that Yang’s statement “dodged all the key questions”, according to a report by local media outlet 36Kr. Zhu said protocols, such as shareholders’ resolution to approve a liability waiver, were not faithfully followed.