Chinese AI Startup MiniMax Secures $2 Billion in Funding for AGI Push

Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax Group has secured $2 billion in a new funding round aimed at accelerating its pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI) and scaling its infrastructure. The move highlights the significant capital being deployed in the highly competitive global AI sector.

Details of the Capital Raise

In an exchange filing, MiniMax said it will raise approximately HK$16 billion (about $2 billion) through a share placement and a zero-coupon convertible bond offering. The company plans to allocate about 80% of the proceeds toward expanding its AI infrastructure and bolstering model research and development.

MiniMax cited surging demand as a key driver for the fundraising. The company reported its enterprise and developer customer base grew to more than 1 million by the end of June, up from about 200,000 at the end of 2025. Its consumer products have reportedly reached around 300 million global users.

AGI Commitment and CEO Pledges

Alongside the funding, the company's leadership outlined a series of long-term commitments tied to its AGI ambitions. According to a social media post by Ryan Lee, MiniMax's Head of Developer Relations, the company's CEO made three key pledges to employees.

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These commitments, intended to align the company with its core mission, include:

• The CEO will forgo taking a salary until the company achieves AGI.
• Shares equivalent to 4% of MiniMax's total equity will be allocated from the CEO's personal holdings over four years to reward long-term employees.
• An additional 1% of equity will be dedicated to supporting the open-source community.

Market Context

This substantial capital injection provides MiniMax with significant resources to compete against other major AI labs in China and globally. The funds are critical for securing the immense computational power needed to train advanced AI models and further develop its AI agent products, referred to as "Harness."