Beijing-based start-up Moonshot AI is preparing to conclude a funding round in August valuing the company at up to $50 billion (£37.4bn), Bloomberg reported, as the firm capitalises on strong interest in its latest model and prepares for a planned listing in Hong Kong.

An earlier round that began this summer, valuing the company at $31.5bn, is expected to close in the coming days, the report said, citing unnamed people.

Once that round is complete, Moonshot reportedly plans to immediately begin talks with potential backers for a follow-on capital raising, which is intended to be its last before the planned IPO that could take place before the end of this year.

Back-to-back fundraising rounds are rare for US companies, and indicate the rapidity with which start-ups in China such as Moonshot and others can seek capital at times of high investor interest.

Moonshot on 17 July released its latest open-weight Kimi K3 model, which surprised developers and investors by offering performance approaching that of the latest proprietary frontier models from Anthropic and OpenAI.

The company has also reportedly seen its annualised revenue rise to $300m in June, up from $200m in April.

Since K3’s launch, only days ago, Moonshot’s daily sales have increased by at least a factor of six, Bloomberg cited a source as saying.

As it seeks to take advantage of this momentum, Moonshot is aiming to complete the dismantling of its offshore red-chip structure by the end of July, a critical step toward its domestic fundraising round and broader IPO preparations, Bloomberg cited sources as saying.

The company’s existing investors include Meituan, Tencent Holdings, IDG Capital, HSG, ZhenFund, and state-backed organisations China Mobile and the Beijing AI Industry Investment Fund.

Z.ai, which released a major open-weight model in June, held a successful IPO in January.