$79 million in revenue, 236 million users, but $1.87 billion in losses on the books
MiniMax, one of China's six "AI Tigers" and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since January, has released its first annual results.
Revenue: +159% to $79 million.
The stock has quintupled since its IPO price of HK$165 and most recently closed up more than 9%.
The details
The startup, founded in 2022 and backed by Alibaba, miHoYo and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund, was the fastest AI company globally to go public.
Extremely fast execution: Three new model generations (M2 to M2.5) in 108 days. The next one (M3) is expected in the first half of 2026.
MiniMax operates on two tracks:
B2C revenue from AI apps Hailuo AI and Talkie: $53.1 million (+143%).
B2B revenue from enterprise clients and developers: $26 million (+198%).
Over 73% of revenue comes from international markets.
Gross margin: +13 percentage points to 25.4%. Marketing costs -40%, R&D +34% to $250 million.
ARR: Exceeded $150 million in February. 236 million users across 200+ countries, 214,000 enterprise clients.
The net loss of $1.87 billion sounds dramatic, but $1.6 billion of that is purely mark-to-market adjustments on financial instruments, not actual cash out the door. The operating loss came in at $251 million, roughly flat year-over-year.
Context
OpenAI reported an ARR of $20 billion in 2025. MiniMax sits at $150 million. But while US competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic rely on ever-larger funding rounds, MiniMax has already tapped the capital markets.
The question now is whether the Hong Kong listing provides enough runway to keep up in the global model race, or whether the coffers run dry at $250 million in annual cash burn faster than the valuation can rise.
👉 Sources: KrASIA, Yicai Global, DealStreet Asia
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