Kuaishou's Kling Completes About $2.98B Funding Round, Parent Keeps Majority Voting Control

What happened

Reuters reported on Oct 30 that Kuaishou said its unit Beijing Kling has completed a fundraising round of about 19.8 billion yuan (about $2.98 billion). After the transaction, Kuaishou holds two-thirds of Beijing Kling's equity and 52.45% of its voting rights through Lucky Labs.

New investors disclosed by Reuters include a unit of Hong Kong-listed Kingdee International with 300 million yuan, Gongqingcheng Junke with 200 million yuan, and a unit of Shanghai-listed MetaX with 100 million yuan. Reuters reported that these new investors partially took over other investors' commitments and received redemption rights.

Kuaishou did not disclose how the proceeds will be used. Reuters noted that Kling competes with AI video generation models from OpenAI, Google and ByteDance; Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that Kling is planning an IPO next year.

Key facts

Round size: about 19.8 billion yuan (about $2.98 billion), at the 1 dollar to 6.66 yuan rate given by Reuters.

Parent stake: Kuaishou holds two-thirds of Beijing Kling's equity and 52.45% of voting rights through Lucky Labs.

New investors: a Kingdee International unit with 300 million yuan, Gongqingcheng Junke with 200 million yuan, and a MetaX unit with 100 million yuan.

Additional terms: the new investors partially took over other investors' commitments and received redemption rights.

Previous round: a July raise of about $2.8 billion drew investors including Alibaba and Tencent, at a pre-money valuation of about $15 billion.

Next step: Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that Kling is planning an IPO next year; Kuaishou did not disclose the use of proceeds.