❯ Kuaishou’s Kling picks CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS to prepare a Hong Kong IPO aiming to raise at least $1 billion

Banks selectedAccording to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, as relayed by AI Weekly, Kling, the AI video business owned by Kuaishou, has picked CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS to prepare a Hong Kong listing that aims to raise at least $1 billion, as soon as next year. Discussions are ongoing, and size and timing could change.

AI video generationKling is Kuaishou’s AI video generation unit: users enter text or images and the model produces video. Its competitors include ByteDance’s Seedance, Shengshu Technology and PixVerse. The report says Kling entered its commercialization phase after OpenAI’s Sora exited the market.

It raised $2.8 billion in JulyKling closed a $2.8 billion round in July at a pre-money valuation of about $15 billion, with Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu among the investors. Less than three months after that money arrived, IPO preparation is already under way.

Revenue is still a blankAI Weekly points out that Kling has never publicly disclosed revenue, that its Hong Kong filing will carry the first such figure, and that whether the $15 billion valuation holds in public markets is unconfirmed. Who pays for AI video, and how much, is the answer investors most want to see.

▮ SIGNALAI video companies have so far spoken only in valuations, and Kling’s listing will give outsiders their first look at the real accounts of this business.