Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup MiniMax aims to raise over $600 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.
The company may begin accepting investor orders as early as Wednesday, December 31, for a listing in January, though the size and timing of the deal might change, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, December 30, citing unnamed sources.
MiniMax did not comment on the report, according to Bloomberg.
The company is one of several trying to be the first Chinese generative AI startup to go public. It plans to compete with U.S. leaders in the field, the report stated.
Rival firm Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Co., also known as Zhipu AI or Z.ai, aims to raise $552 million from an IPO in Hong Kong, according to the report.
In March, it was reported that Zhipu AI raised over 1 billion yuan ($137 million) in a funding round led by Hangzhou Municipal Construction Investment Group Co. and Shangcheng Capital. Both have ties to the Hangzhou local government and were backed by existing investors including Alibaba Group and Tencent.
PYMNTS noted that Chinese AI startups gained attention after DeepSeek surprised Silicon Valley with foundation models that matched the best AI models but were much cheaper.
In July, Z.ai released a new AI model that it claimed is cheaper to use than DeepSeek. This open-source model can run on eight Nvidia H20 chips.
The company stated that the GLM-4.5 model series includes two models—GLM-4.5 and GLM-4.5-Air—that meet the needs of agentic applications by combining reasoning, coding, and agentic capabilities.
Reuters reported on December 23 that global investors are betting on Chinese AI companies, hoping to find the next DeepSeek and diversify their investments.
China has sped up listings of chipmakers as it seeks tech independence and aims to close the tech gap with the U.S., according to the report.
There has also been a surge of startups in China and Hong Kong, looking to replicate the success of DeepSeek and meet the growing demand from investors.Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup MiniMax aims to raise over $600 million in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.
The company may begin accepting investor orders as early as Wednesday, December 31, for a listing in January, though the size and timing of the deal might change, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, December 30, citing unnamed sources.
MiniMax did not comment on the report, according to Bloomberg.
The company is one of several trying to be the first Chinese generative AI startup to go public. It plans to compete with U.S. leaders in the field, the report stated.
Rival firm Knowledge Atlas Technology Joint Stock Co., also known as Zhipu AI or Z.ai, aims to raise $552 million from an IPO in Hong Kong, according to the report.
In March, it was reported that Zhipu AI raised over 1 billion yuan ($137 million) in a funding round led by Hangzhou Municipal Construction Investment Group Co. and Shangcheng Capital. Both have ties to the Hangzhou local government and were backed by existing investors including Alibaba Group and Tencent.
PYMNTS noted that Chinese AI startups gained attention after DeepSeek surprised Silicon Valley with foundation models that matched the best AI models but were much cheaper.
In July, Z.ai released a new AI model that it claimed is cheaper to use than DeepSeek. This open-source model can run on eight Nvidia H20 chips.
The company stated that the GLM-4.5 model series includes two models—GLM-4.5 and GLM-4.5-Air—that meet the needs of agentic applications by combining reasoning, coding, and agentic capabilities.
Reuters reported on December 23 that global investors are betting on Chinese AI companies, hoping to find the next DeepSeek and diversify their investments.
China has sped up listings of chipmakers as it seeks tech independence and aims to close the tech gap with the U.S., according to the report.
There has also been a surge of startups in China and Hong Kong, looking to replicate the success of DeepSeek and meet the growing demand from investors.
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Source: https://www.pymnts.com/