Kling AI, the video-generation business of Kuaishou Technology (HKEX: 1024), has raised about 19.8 billion yuan (about $2.91 billion), completing the round Kuaishou disclosed in July at a $15 billion pre-money valuation rather than starting a second one. Kuaishou's announcement to the Hong Kong exchange on October 30 calls it the completion of the subscriptions under the capital increase agreement signed on July 2, after every investor "paid their respective Subscription Price in full".
The round closed below its cap. Two committed investors failed to pay, and three new ones, including a unit of the enterprise software company Kingdee International (HKEX: 0268) and the chip designer MetaX, took over part of other investors' commitments on the same day.
One round, not two
Reuters, in a story carried by The Standard, described the money as following "a US$2.8 billion raise in July" and put it at $2.98 billion. Kuaishou's filings tell a single story. On July 2, investors signed up for 19.05 billion yuan ($2.79 billion) under one agreement, which allowed more investors to join up to a cap of 20.45 billion yuan, or $3 billion. On August 31, Kuaishou said the cap "has been fully utilized" after two more investors joined and seven existing investors changed their amounts.
Beijing Kling ended its agreements with Dakang Lanwu, for 100 million yuan, and BFI MIDCO, for $80 million, because each "was not able to complete the payment of its Subscription Price within the given period". The filing says the termination "was due to objective reasons not attributable to any party". The 19,801.84 million yuan paid in is the cap minus those two amounts, at the filings' two decimal places. Kuaishou converts it at $2,905.33 million, a rate of 6.8157 yuan to the dollar, the same rate its July filing used.
Date | Yuan | US$ |
|---|---|---|
Jul. 2, signed | 19.05B | 2.79B |
Jul. 2, cap | 20.45B | 3.00B |
Aug. 31, cap filled | 20.45B | 3.00B |
Oct. 30, paid in | 19.80B | 2.91B |
Source: Kuaishou announcements of July 2, August 31 and October 30, 2026; dollar amounts as Kuaishou converted them.
Who stepped in
The new investors did not enlarge the round. Through assignment agreements signed on October 30, they took over commitments Dakang Lanwu and Haipu No.1 had made, and each was granted the same redemption rights as the other investors.
Investor | Yuan | Took over from |
|---|---|---|
Kingdee Software | 300M | Dakang Lanwu |
Gongqingcheng Junke | 200M | Dakang Lanwu |
MetaX Shanghai | 100M | Dakang, Haipu |
Source: Kuaishou announcement of October 30, 2026. MetaX's share is 55 million from Dakang Lanwu and 45 million from Haipu No.1.
Kingdee Software (China) is the wholly owned unit of Kingdee International that sells "enterprise management applications and related services", according to the filing. MetaX, listed on Shanghai's Science and Technology Innovation Board, makes graphics processors for AI training and inference. The filing gives no reason for either investment.
What the terms say about the price
Every investor can make Beijing Kling buy its stake back. Under the shareholders' agreement in the July filing, the right opens if Kling has not completed an initial public offering by the fifth anniversary of the last payment date or October 30, 2031, whichever is earlier. It also opens if, within nine months of the last payment, Kling has not bought an overseas operating company, won a value-added telecommunications licence and filed its AI models with the regulator where the law requires it. The buyback price is the original investment plus "an annual return of 8% calculated on a simple interest basis", less any dividends paid. Five years at that rate returns 1.4 times the money, a SaasBuzz calculation.
Kuaishou's own explanation is that the right "provides the Investors with a defined exit mechanism under specified circumstances, thereby reducing investment risk", which lets Kling "secure capital on more favourable terms". So the investors who paid the $15 billion price are protected on the downside by an obligation Kling itself would have to fund if no listing comes. Reuters reported, citing Bloomberg News, that Kling plans an IPO next year.
Kuaishou's July filing put Kling's annualized revenue run rate at about $500 million in March 2026, so the pre-money valuation was 30 times that figure, a SaasBuzz calculation. Kuaishou's second-quarter results said Kling AI generated revenue of over 850 million yuan in the quarter, up more than 200% from a year earlier.
Who controls Kling now
Reuters reported that Kuaishou keeps two-thirds of the equity and 52.45% of the votes through Lucky Labs. The October 30 table adds a second Kuaishou vehicle, Beijing Kuailingrui, with 2.01% of the equity and 1.58% of the votes, so Kuaishou's two holding companies together have 68.69% and 54.03%, on the filing's basis that all employee share schemes are used in full. Gai Kun, Beijing Kling's chief executive, holds 3.02% of the equity but 23.72% of the votes, because his shares carry ten votes each for as long as he runs the company.
