MiniMax down 80%, DeepSeek seeks RMB 100B: the LLM IPO pricing divide
The piece contrasts a sell-off in listed Chinese model companies — MiniMax down about 80% from its March peak and Zhipu off roughly 78% from its June high — with a primary market that keeps marking up: DeepSeek is reported to be near a round of up to RMB 100 billion, Moonshot AI is valued at $50 billion, and Kuaishou's Kling is rumoured to be heading for a Hong Kong listing. Measured against annualised first-half revenue, those private valuations sit at roughly 40–74x sales, backed in part by industrial capital such as CATL and Tencent and by state funds. Figures are as of 8 October 2026, and the financing and listing details come from media reports rather than company announcements.
It highlights how much of today's model-training spend rests on capital-market pricing that has yet to converge between private and public markets.