MiniMax Secures Alibaba and ADIA Support for Upcoming Hong Kong IPO

Chinese AI startup MiniMax has reportedly secured Alibaba and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as key backers in its upcoming initial public offering in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Champ Titles said it raised $55M in new financing.This week's private company news:SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic are planning for IPOs as early as this year, and the three deals alone would exceed the total proceeds from roughly 200 U.S. IPOs in 2025, The Financial Times' George Hammond. SpaceX executives told investors in recent weeks that the company will go public within the next 12 months unless there is a major market shock, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, while Anthropic has appointed West Coast law firm Wilson Sonsini to begin IPO preparations. OpenAI has been in talks with firms about IPO plans, but has not yet selected its legal advisors, two people say.Chinese AI startup MiniMax has secured Alibabaand Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as key backers in its upcoming initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg's Dave Sebastian and Luz Ding. MiniMax is seeking to raise more than $600M from the IPO, according to the people. It is set to start taking investor orders as early as Wednesday for a listing in January, some of them said. In addition to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund and Alibaba, IDG Capital, Perseverance Asset Management, and South Korea's Mirae Asset will be among the cornerstone investors in the deal, the people said.Some of the biggest capital raises by private companies this week include:Champ Titles– The provider of digital solutions to motor vehicle agencies raised $55M in new financing, in a round led by W. R. Berkley Corporation, Point72 Ventures, and ORIX Corporation USA, with participation from other existing investors as well. Publicly traded companies operating in the same space include Guidewire Software, Tyler Technologies, and Cognizant.Architect Financial Technologies– The provider of institutional trading technology, U.S. electronic brokerage services, and a global perpetual futures exchange announced the completion of a $35M strategic Series A investment round. Publicly traded companies operating in the same space include Miami International, Coinbase, and Galaxy Digital.Lemon Slice– The new frontier AI research and product lab raised $10.5M in seed funding from Matrix Partners, Y Combinator, Arash Ferdowsi, Emmett Shear, and EDM-pop duo The Chainsmokers to accelerate development. Publicly traded companies operating in the same space include Nvidia, Adobe, and Unity.Traini– The pet emotional intelligence startup completed a $7.5M funding round led by Banyan Tree, Silver Capital, ZhaoTai Group, and NYX Ventures, with participation from Starting Gate Fund, Jade Capital, and renowned tech investors including VPs from Nvidia, Julian Qian, Weihe Zheng, Jia He, Peter Xu, and Zach Zhang. Publicly traded companies operating in the same space include Trupanion, Freshpet, and Chewy.BriefCatch– The legal-writing platform used by law firms and courts raised $6M in Series A financing in a round led by Full In, a software-focused growth equity firm where Elodie Dupuy serves as Founder and Managing Partner. Publicly traded companies operating in the same space include Thomson Reuters, DocuSign, and Intapp.Unicorns to watch this week:Halter– The cattle tech/AgTech company has recently completed a $100M Series D financing round at a $1B valuation. The company makes smart collars and virtual fencing for cattle, enabling ranchers to manage herds via app. Publicly traded companies in the space include Zoetis.Decagon– The AI customer support agent company has a valuation of about $1.5B after a $131M Series C funding round co-led by Accel and a16z Growth. Publicly traded companies in the space include Salesforce, Freshworks, and HubSpot.Zama– The cryptography/blockchain infrastructure is the first unicorn in the FHE – Fully Homomorphic Encryption – space. The company hit an estimated $1B valuation after raising $57M in a Series B round. Publicly traded companies in the space include Inteland AMD.Harvey– The legal AI startup offers tools for law firms and in-house counsel. With an estimated valuation of $5B, the company is part of the growing legal tech wave. Publicly traded companies in the space include Thomson Reuters, Intapp, and Veritone.Kalshi– The prediction-market startup has recently raised $185M in a funding round led by Paradigm, valuing the company at about $2B, amid regulatory approval momentum and investor interest in alternative trading. Publicly traded companies in the space include CME Group, IntercontinentalExchange, and Cboe Global.IPOs to watch:Grayscale Investments– The company filed a prospectus for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "GRAY." Grayscale says it is the largest digital asset-focused investment platform in the world, with $35B in assets under management as of September 30.Klook Technology– The company, which identifies itself as "the largest pan-regional experiences platform in Asia-Pacific" by gross transaction volume in 2024, announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of American Depositary Shares representing its ordinary shares.Speed Group– The company filed a prospectus for 2.5M share initial public offering. It expects the IPO price to be in the range of $4.00 to $5.00 per. The company's operating subsidiary, Speed Logistics, is an e-commerce logistics provider providing end-to-end logistics solution in Hong Kong, Europe and North America. The services include warehousing, customs clearance, air transportation, and final delivery from the European airports.Lendbuzz– The company is offering an undetermined number of shares of its common stock and the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus are offering additional shares of common stock, according to an initial public offering prospectus filed with the SEC."Private Markets" is The Fly's recurring series of stories on the latest moves in the private sector, largest unicorn companies and initial public offerings to watch. Fly subscribers, add $PRIVATE to your portfolio for alerts on breaking news in the startup and venture capital space.