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Nov 6, 2020 - Economy & Business

Chinese short-video and live streaming app KuaiShou files for IPO

Dan Primack
Illustration of a director's chair with a chinese flag

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

KuaiShou, a Chinese short-video and live streaming app, filed for a Hong Kong IPO that reportedly will seek to raise $5 billion.

Why it matters: This reflects the booming market for TikTok-style services in China, as KuaiShou claims to have over 300 million daily users. Its rivals include Douyin (ByteDance's Chinese version of TikTok) and Nasdaq-listed Bilibili (which, like KuaiShou, includes Tencent and Alibaba as shareholders).

  • KuaiShou has raised over $4 billion from firms like Sequoia Capital China, DCM, Morningside VC, DST Global, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Temasek, Boyu Capital, and Shunwei Capital.

Meanwhile: ByteDance is seeking to raise $2 billion in pre-IPO funding at a $180 billion valuation, even though the TikTok situation remains unresolved, per Bloomberg.

The bottom line: "Kuaishou often prides itself on user engagement; indeed, over a quarter of its 776 million monthly users are creators themselves. That makes Kuaishou more of a social app where the viewers and creators interact frequently through means like live streaming and gifting," per TechCrunch.

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