MiniMax
Multimodal Foundation Models
Valuation
~$4B (2025)
Total Funding
$850M+
Profit Status
Pre-profit, rapid growth
Employees
~600
About MiniMax
MiniMax is a Shanghai-based AI company building foundation models across text, audio, image, and video. It is best known for its Hailuo AI video generator, the MiniMax-01 series of long-context LLMs (up to 4M tokens), and popular consumer apps like Talkie. Backed by Alibaba and Tencent, MiniMax is one of China's leading 'AI tiger' startups and filed for a Hong Kong IPO in 2026.
Company History
Founded 2021 by Yan Junjie, a former vision-AI lead at SenseTime. Built consumer AI companion app Talkie (Xingye in China) to tens of millions of users. Launched Hailuo AI video generator Sep 2024, quickly ranking among the world's top video models. Released MiniMax-01 (Jan 2025) with a 4M-token context window and open weights. MiniMax-M1 reasoning model (2025). Backed by Alibaba, Tencent, and IDG at a ~$4B valuation. Filed for a Hong Kong IPO in 2026.
AI Models & Benchmarks
High-fidelity text-to-video and image-to-video model with realistic physics and cinematic motion. Among the top-ranked video generators globally.
Long-context MoE LLM with a 4M-token context window using lightning attention. Competitive with GPT-4o and Claude on benchmarks.
Benchmarks
Open-weight reasoning model built on the MiniMax-01 architecture, trained with reinforcement learning for efficient long-form reasoning.
Multilingual text-to-speech and voice-cloning model supporting 30+ languages with expressive control.
Company Timeline
2021
Founded in Shanghai by Yan Junjie (ex-SenseTime)
2023
Talkie / Xingye AI companion app launches, reaching tens of millions of users
Sep 2024
Hailuo AI video generator launched — quickly ranks among world's top video models
Jan 2025
MiniMax-01 released with 4M-token context window and open weights
2025
MiniMax-M1 reasoning model; ~$4B valuation with Alibaba/Tencent backing
2026
Filed for Hong Kong IPO
Products & Services
Company Details
Focus Area
Multimodal Foundation Models
Stage
Founded
2021
Headquarters
Shanghai, China
Employees
~600
Financial Overview
Total Funding
$850M+
Valuation
~$4B (2025)
Profit Status
Pre-profit, rapid growth
Funding Rounds
- Series B$600M2024Alibaba, $2.5B valuation
- Series C$250M+2025Tencent, IDG
Key Investors
Key People
- Yan Junjie (Founder & CEO)
- Zhou Yucong (Co-founder)