Kuaishou files for Hong Kong IPO as world’s second-biggest short video app joins march of Chinese tech companies to raise funds

Kuaishou Technology, the second-largest short video platform in the world, filed for IPO in Hong Kong

The IPO came as Chinese companies are seeking elsewhere to list amid the increased tensions between the world’s two largest economies

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Kuaishou’s karaoke store in Guangzhou where customers can either sing on a public stage or entertain themselves in a soundproof cubicle equipped with a screen, microphones and earphones. Photo: Handout

Published: 11:46pm, 5 Nov 2020Updated: 5:45am, 6 Nov 2020

Kuaishou Technology, the world’s second-largest video sharing platform and a competitor to TikTok, has applied to raise funds via an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, continuing the march by Chinese companies to tap capital in the financial hub.

The Beijing-based company, which reported 302 million average daily active users in the first six months, said it plans to use the capital it raises to enhance its ecosystem and strengthen research and development and technology, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange (HKEX), without disclosing how much money it plans to raise.

The company’s monthly active users topped 776 million, hosting around 1 billion live streaming sessions on its application, Kuaishou said, with a total of 1.63 trillion likes, shares and comments for short videos and live streaming on the platform. A listing could arrive early next year, the South China Morning Post reported earlier.

Valued at more than US$30 billion in its most recent funding, Kuaishou chose to list in Hong Kong as the United States government increased its censorship of Chinese firms and especially technology giants. The Trump administration has threatened to shut down the business of Kuaishou’s bigger rival TikTok in the US, forcing the Chinese company to sell its US assets to an American company.

The short video-sharing platform Kuaishou during the 2020 China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference (ChinaJoy) at Shanghai New International Expo Center on July 30, 2020 in Shanghai. Photo: VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Separately, TikTok’s parent ByteDance is in talks to raise capital in a private-equity funding round, Bloomberg reported.