Kuaishou IPO: ByteDance's Chinese rival mulls raising $5.4 billion

Kuaishou app. (PC-Facebook)

Kuaishou Technology, China’s most popular video service after ByteDance’s Douyin, is mulling to raise around $5.4 billion in the world’s biggest internet initial public offering (IPO) since Uber Technologies Inc, reported Bloomberg.

According to the latest development, the Tencent Holdings Ltd-backed short video startup is selling 365 million shares at HK$105 to HK$115 each. The Chinese firm will begin taking investor orders from Monday through January 29 and is all set to list its IPO in Hong Kong on February 5.

The Chinese firm is aiming the world’s biggest internet IPO since Uber’s $8.1 billion US sale in May 2019, reported Bloomberg. This may also give Hong Kong’s already-hot capital market another boost. Earlier in 2018-19, Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. floated $5.8 billion.

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Kuaishou made its debut in 2013 by its co-creator SuHua along with TikTok parent ByteDance, pioneered bite-sized video format and live streaming format which later was followed by likes of Facebook Inc. and others.

With Kuaishou all set to make its debut its IPO, both Tencent and IPO advisor China Renaissance Holdings Ltd. surged in Hong Kong. Its (Kuaishou) executives even revealed on Monday that the active users breached 481 million-mark, with average daily time spent, having crossed the 100-minute mark in 2021. Su is also planning to apply its popular video formats for online services like shopping.

"We are exploring live-streaming in local life services and knowledge sharing. We’ll also try to use short videos and live-streaming, both based on the fan-host relationship, to transform one industry after another. That’s a driving force for our future growth," Bloomberg quoted the 38-year-old former Google engineer.

Kuaishou's valuation may double after its Hong Kong IPO and reach at $60.9 billion, up from the $28.6 billion it achieved in a funding round last year, Pitchbook opines. It added that even at the low end of the range, the Chinese firm may be valued at $55.6 billion.

In Kuaishou, Tencent has about a 21.6% stake, while it is backed by other venture capital firms including DCM, DST Global and Sequoia Capital China, prospectus shows. Bank of America Corp, Morgan Stanley, and China Renaissance are joint sponsors of the deal, reported the business website.