China’s well-known artificial intelligence startup Kimi is actively engaging in settlement negotiations with old shareholders who have filed claims during a critical period as it plans to go public in Hong Kong. This development has once again put the company’s previously hidden disputes over equity and resource transfers under the spotlight.
The dispute stems from related accusations against Recurrent.ai and some of its investors. It is understood that the investors claim that Yang Zhilin, co-founder of Moon Shadow Darkness, and Zhang Yutao, CTO, may have made false statements and transferred Recurrent.ai’s technical and business resources to Moon Shadow Darkness without permission in order to gain personal benefits. As a result, the investors have demanded compensation equivalent to 10.5% of Moon Shadow Darkness’s initial shares, which, based on current valuations, amounts to over $700 million. Regarding the above accusations, Yang Zhilin has explicitly denied them. His law firm representative also made a public statement, emphasizing that the relevant accusations lack both legal and factual basis.
Before this, the dark side of the moon had secretly submitted an IPO application for Hong Kong. Industry analysts suggest that although this shareholder dispute is expected not to directly block its listing process, if it fails to be properly resolved, it could easily trigger concerns among potential secondary market investors regarding the company’s governance structure, clarity of equity ownership, and the quality of information disclosure, thereby complicating the listing process further.
As a highly regarded AI unicorn in the country, Moon’s Dark Side is actively engaging in settlement negotiations at key stages of its IPO process, indicating its determination to eliminate compliance issues and resolve internal disputes before officially entering the capital market. Whether these large-scale settlement negotiations can be successfully concluded will become an important indicator for the market in evaluating the company’s governance capabilities and listing prospects.