Moonshot Hit $100M ARR in a Month — European AI Labs Should Be Embarrassed

Kimi K2.5 generated more revenue in 20 days than Moonshot AI made in all of 2025. Zhipu's API business grew 292% last year. China's model race has quietly become a revenue race — and the API layer is the prize. European founders building on top of models need to ask a harder question about who controls the infrastructure beneath them.

What happened in China In February 2026, Moonshot AI crossed $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue — one month after launching Kimi K2.5. To put that in sharper terms: Kimi K2.5 generated more revenue in its first 20 days than Moonshot AI made across the entirety of 2025. The company had already achieved $300 million in annual revenue with 50% growth in three months, and its user base had surpassed 100 million. Shortly after, it secured over $700 million in new funding. Meanwhile, Zhipu AI — a less-discussed but equally instructive case — reported 131.9% annual revenue growth for 2025, with total revenue reaching 724.3 million yuan (≈$105 million). Its cloud-based API revenue climbed 292% to 190.4 million yuan (≈$26.7 million). Zhipu's Model-as-a-Service ARR hit RMB 1.7 billion (≈$238 million). These are not projections. These are reported figures. The Kimi story did not stop at revenue. Cursor — one…

Moonshot Hit $100M ARR in a Month — European AI Labs Should Be Embarrassed

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