Adia backs IPO of Chinese AI startup MiniMax

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has backed the initial public offering of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup MiniMax as a cornerstone investor.

The Abu Dhabi sovereign fund invested $65 million to acquire 3.35 million shares, the startup said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Other IPO backers were Chinese tech giant Alibaba, IDG, Perseverance Asset Management and South Korea’s Mirae Asset Securities.

The cornerstone tranche raised $350 million, the startup said.

MiniMax plans to raise at least HK$3.83 billion ($492 million) from selling 25.4 million shares.

The IPO is likely to value MiniMax at nearly $6.5 billion.

Founded in 2022, the startup offers multimodal AI models that can process text, audio, images, video and music.

The startup’s net loss widened to $512 million in the nine months of 2025 compared to $304 million in the same period last year.

The losses were due to significant initial investment in foundation model research and development and AI infrastructure, as well as fair value loss on financial liabilities, the filing said.

Last month Adia also joined as an anchor investor in the initial public offering of Indian stockbroker Groww.

The Emirati fund was also among a group investors who bought a 4.5 percent stake in British insurer Prudential’s asset-management joint venture in India.