ITHome News on October 6: According to Bloomberg, sources say Kling AI, a subsidiary of Kuaishou Technology, has already selected underwriting banks to prepare for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, with the IPO expected to raise at least 1 billion US dollars (ITHome note: approximately 6.714 billion yuan at current exchange rates).
Sources said the artificial intelligence video service provider is currently working with China International Capital Corporation (CICC), Goldman Sachs Group, and UBS Group to advance a potential share sale. Kling AI aims to complete its listing as early as next year.
The people added that discussions are still ongoing, and details such as the size of the offering and the timing of the listing could still change.
Kling AI was founded in 2024. As a player in China's AI-generated video sector, it is actively seeking commercialization; after OpenAI terminated the Sora project, Kling AI also hopes to fill the market gap. In July this year, Kling AI completed a funding round of 2.8 billion US dollars (approximately 18.801 billion yuan at current exchange rates), with investors including tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu; after the completion of that round, Kling AI's pre-money valuation was about 15 billion US dollars (approximately 100.717 billion yuan at current exchange rates).
Kling AI's current competitors include ByteDance's Seedance, as well as the two startups Shengshu Technology and PixVerse, the latter two of which are also planning IPOs in Hong Kong.
Although the local Hong Kong stock market has weakened, AI-related deals are driving a recovery in Hong Kong's IPO market, pushing the total funds raised from new listings in the third quarter to a record high. Kuaishou's own Hong Kong-listed shares have not been spared either, with its market value having more than halved this year.