Kuaishou
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Kuaishou Technology (快手科技; stock code: 1024.HK) is the Chinese short-video company behind Kling, the AI video generation model whose annualized revenue run rate reached USD 240 million in December 2025, and behind one of China's largest short-video platforms, serving over 400 million daily active users.[1][8] Founded in 2011 by Cheng Yixiao and later joined by Su Hua, the company is headquartered in Haidian District, Beijing and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, competing directly with ByteDance's Douyin (the Chinese counterpart of TikTok). Beyond its consumer app, Kuaishou has become a major artificial intelligence developer, producing the Kling video generation system, the Kolors image generation model, the KwaiYii large language model, and the KuaiFormer transformer recommendation engine that ranks content for hundreds of millions of users.[1][8]
History
Founding and Early Years (2011-2014)
Kuaishou traces its origins to March 2011, when Cheng Yixiao launched a mobile application called "GIF Kuaishou" (GIF快手). Cheng, a software engineer who had previously worked at Hewlett-Packard (2007-2009) and Renren Inc. (2009-2011), designed the app as a tool for creating and sharing animated GIF images on mobile devices.[3] The app gained steady traction in its early months and secured seed funding in April 2012.
In late 2012, the app began pivoting from static GIF creation toward short video recording and sharing, reflecting the rapid expansion of mobile internet access across China. In 2013, Cheng was introduced to Su Hua, a Tsinghua University computer science graduate who had worked as an engineer at Google China (2006-2008) and Baidu (2010-2011).[4] Su Hua officially joined the company in November 2013, and the two co-founders rebranded the product as a short-video social platform. Su Hua took on the role of CEO while Cheng Yixiao served as Chief Product Officer (CPO).
By 2013, the platform had accumulated a large user base, and the transition from GIF tool to video community proved to be a turning point. The company secured Series B financing of $10 million from Sequoia Capital China and DCM Ventures in 2014, validating the short-video model.
Growth and Funding Rounds (2015-2019)
Kuaishou's user base grew rapidly during the mid-2010s as affordable smartphones and mobile data plans spread throughout China, particularly in lower-tier cities and rural areas. In 2016, the company received Series C funding from Baidu and China Media Capital. Tencent led Kuaishou's $350 million Series D round in 2017 at a valuation reported to be between $18 billion and $20 billion.
Tencent continued its backing by joining Sequoia China in a $1 billion Series E round in 2018. By 2019, the company had surpassed 200 million daily active users. In December 2019, Kuaishou completed a massive $3 billion Series F round led by Tencent, which contributed approximately $2 billion.[5] Other participants included Singapore's Temasek, Boyu Capital, YF Capital, and Sequoia Capital. This final pre-IPO round valued Kuaishou at approximately $28.6 billion.[5] Across all funding rounds, the company raised a total of roughly $4.8 billion.
When did Kuaishou go public?
Kuaishou made its public market debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on February 5, 2021, under the stock code 1024.HK. The company priced its shares at HK$115 each, raising approximately HK$41.3 billion ($5.3 billion) in what became the largest technology IPO globally at that time since Uber's 2019 listing.[2]
Shares opened at HK$338, representing a 194% surge from the IPO price. The stock closed its first day of trading at HK$300, a gain of roughly 160%.[2] Within two weeks, shares briefly reached HK$417, giving the company a peak market capitalization exceeding $160 billion.[13] Tencent remained the single largest external shareholder with a stake of approximately 21.6%, while 5Y Capital (formerly Morningside Venture Capital), the company's earliest institutional backer, held about 16.7%.
Leadership Transitions (2021-2023)
On October 29, 2021, Kuaishou announced that Su Hua would step down as CEO, with co-founder Cheng Yixiao assuming the role.[14] Su Hua continued to serve as Chairman of the Board, focusing on long-term strategy. The move came during a broader trend of Chinese tech founders stepping back from operational roles amid regulatory scrutiny of the technology sector.
In October 2023, Su Hua resigned from his position as Chairman of the Board. Cheng Yixiao then assumed both the CEO and Chairman roles, consolidating leadership of the company.[3] The board stated that having a single person in both positions would improve operational efficiency and strategic alignment.
Platform and Products
Kuaishou App
The core Kuaishou app allows users to create, upload, and share short videos and live streams. The platform is distinguished by its algorithm, which emphasizes broad traffic distribution rather than concentrating views on a small number of viral creators. This design philosophy encourages a wider range of content creators and fosters stronger community engagement, particularly among users in lower-tier cities and rural areas of China.
Content on Kuaishou spans a wide range of categories including daily life, comedy, food, agriculture, crafts, music, and education. The platform also supports live streaming, which serves both as an entertainment channel and as a vehicle for e-commerce transactions.
International Expansion: Kwai and SnackVideo
Kuaishou launched its first international product, Kwai, in May 2017, initially targeting markets in Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, and Russia. The app saw early success in South Korea, where it was downloaded 10 million times in less than a month.
In April 2020, the company launched SnackVideo on Google Play, targeting markets in South and Southeast Asia. SnackVideo gained significant popularity in India, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Meanwhile, Kwai achieved particularly strong penetration in Latin America, becoming one of the top-ranked free apps in Brazil's iPhone App Store.[11]
By 2024, Kwai had accumulated more than 20 million monthly active users in the Middle East and North Africa region. Kuaishou opened an office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and continued to expand its presence across Brazil, the Middle East, and North Africa.[11] However, the company exited the United States market in 2021 when it shut down its rival app to TikTok in that market.
KuaiYing (Video Editor)
KuaiYing is Kuaishou's video editing application, which serves as both a standalone creative tool and an integration point for the company's AI-powered features. The Kling video generation model was first made available for public testing within the KuaiYing app in June 2024.[6]
How does Kuaishou's recommendation algorithm work?
Kuaishou's recommendation system selects which short videos to surface for each user, and the company has progressively rebuilt it around deep learning and transformer architectures rather than traditional collaborative filtering. The platform's design philosophy distributes traffic more evenly across creators than rival systems, which favors community engagement and trust-based relationships in lower-tier cities and rural areas.
The current retrieval stage is powered by KuaiFormer, a transformer-based framework Kuaishou's AI team described in a November 2024 arXiv paper. According to the paper, KuaiFormer "has been successfully integrated into Kuaishou App's short-video recommendation system since May 2024, serving over 400 million daily active users," and it "redefines the retrieval process by shifting from conventional score estimation tasks ... to a transformer-driven Next Action Prediction paradigm."[17] The model treats each user's history as a sequence of interactions (video ID plus watching attributes such as viewing time, interaction labels, and category tags) and predicts the next likely engagement, with the backbone inspired by the Llama architecture.[17]
Kuaishou reported that KuaiFormer delivered video watch-time gains of +0.360%, +0.126%, and +0.411% across its three largest scenarios, calling it "one of the most significant retrieval experiments at Kuaishou in 2024."[17] At the platform's scale, percentage-point improvements in watch time translate into large absolute gains in engagement and advertising inventory.
Business Model and Revenue
Kuaishou generates revenue through three primary segments: online marketing services, live streaming, and other services (which includes e-commerce commissions).[1]
Revenue Segments
| Segment | FY2024 Revenue (RMB) | YoY Change | Share of Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Marketing Services | 72.4 billion | +20.1% | 57.1% |
| Live Streaming | 37.1 billion | -5.1% | 29.2% |
| Other Services (incl. E-commerce) | 17.4 billion | +23.4% | 13.7% |
| Total Revenue | 126.9 billion | +11.8% | 100% |
Online Marketing Services
Online marketing is Kuaishou's largest revenue source, accounting for 57.1% of total revenue in 2024.[1] This segment includes in-feed advertisements, brand promotions, and performance-based marketing solutions. Growth in this area has been driven by AI-enhanced advertising tools that improve ad targeting and conversion rates.
Live Streaming and Virtual Gifting
Live streaming contributed 29.2% of total revenue in 2024.[1] Kuaishou's live streaming model revolves around virtual gifting: viewers purchase virtual items (ranging from simple stickers and emojis to more expensive digital gifts like virtual cars or houses) and send them to their favorite streamers during live broadcasts. Kuaishou takes a commission from each transaction. The system is intentionally gamified, with social recognition features that encourage repeat spending. While this segment remains large, it experienced a 5.1% year-over-year decline in 2024 as the company's revenue mix shifted toward advertising and e-commerce.[1]
E-Commerce
Kuaishou has built a growing e-commerce business centered on live commerce, where merchants and influencers sell products directly to viewers during live streams. In 2024, total e-commerce gross merchandise volume (GMV) reached RMB 1,389.6 billion (approximately $190 billion), representing a 17.3% year-over-year increase.[1] During the Double 11 (Singles' Day) sales event in 2024, more than 39 million users participated in group buying promotions, and over 2,500 live-streaming rooms each achieved GMV exceeding RMB 1 million.
Short video e-commerce GMV grew by more than 50% year-over-year in Q4 2024, reflecting the increasing importance of non-live-stream sales formats.[1] Kuaishou's "Trusted Shopping" initiative, which focuses on product quality and consumer protection, has been a key driver of e-commerce growth.
Financial Performance
Full Year 2024 Results
Kuaishou reported strong financial results for the full year 2024, with notable improvements in both revenue growth and profitability.[1]
| Metric | FY2024 | FY2023 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | RMB 126.9B | RMB 113.5B | +11.8% |
| Gross Profit | RMB 69.3B | RMB 57.4B | +20.7% |
| Gross Profit Margin | 54.6% | 50.6% | +4.0pp |
| Net Profit | RMB 15.3B | RMB 6.4B | +139.8% |
| Adjusted Net Profit | RMB 17.7B | RMB 10.3B | +72.5% |
| R&D Expenses | RMB 12.2B | RMB 12.3B | -0.8% |
| Selling & Marketing | RMB 41.1B | - | - |
The company's adjusted net profit margin reached 14.0% for the full year, a significant improvement over prior years.[1] The improvement in gross margin was driven by a shift in the revenue mix toward higher-margin online marketing services and operational efficiencies.
Full Year 2025 Results
Kuaishou's revenue and net profit reached new record highs in 2025, with the company increasingly emphasizing AI commercialization. Total revenue rose 12.5% year-over-year to RMB 142.8 billion, and adjusted net profit grew 16.5% to RMB 20.6 billion, lifting the adjusted net profit margin from 14.0% to 14.5%.[18] In the fourth quarter of 2025, total revenue increased 11.8% year-over-year to RMB 39.6 billion, with adjusted net profit of RMB 5.5 billion.[18]
| Metric | FY2025 | FY2024 | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | RMB 142.8B | RMB 126.9B | +12.5% |
| Adjusted Net Profit | RMB 20.6B | RMB 17.7B | +16.5% |
| Adjusted Net Profit Margin | 14.5% | 14.0% | +0.5pp |
| Average App DAU | 410.2 million | 399.4 million | +~10 million |
Q3 2025 Results
In the third quarter of 2025, Kuaishou reported total revenue of RMB 35.6 billion, a 14.2% increase year-over-year. Gross profit rose 14.9% to RMB 19.4 billion, and operating profit surged 69.9% to RMB 5.3 billion. Adjusted net profit for the quarter was RMB 5.0 billion, up 26.3% year-over-year.[9]
User Metrics
Kuaishou's user base has grown steadily, with both daily and monthly active users reaching record highs in 2025.
| Period | Average DAU | Average MAU |
|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 382.5 million | 700.4 million |
| FY2024 | 399.4 million | 709.7 million |
| Q4 2024 | 401.0 million | 735.6 million |
| Q1 2025 | 408.9 million | 714.8 million |
| Q3 2025 | 416.2 million | 731.1 million |
| FY2025 | 410.2 million | - |
The growth from 382.5 million average DAU in 2023 to 410.2 million for full-year 2025 reflects Kuaishou's continued ability to attract and retain users despite the broader maturation of China's short-video market.[9][18]
Artificial Intelligence Research
Kuaishou has invested heavily in AI research and development, with R&D spending of approximately RMB 12.2 billion in 2024.[1] The company's AI efforts span large language models, image generation, and video generation, with applications across content creation, advertising optimization, e-commerce, and user experience.
KwaiYii (Large Language Model)
KwaiYii (快意) is Kuaishou's proprietary large language model, first released in August 2023 with a 13-billion parameter version (KwaiYii-13B). Within six months, the team developed 66-billion and 175-billion parameter versions to serve different business needs.
| Model Version | Parameters | Performance Level |
|---|---|---|
| KwaiYii-13B | 13 billion | Approaches GPT-3.5 |
| KwaiYii-66B | 66 billion | Intermediate |
| KwaiYii-175B | 175 billion | Surpasses GPT-3.5, approaches GPT-4 |
The KwaiYii-175B model was trained on trillions of tokens and achieved industry-leading results on benchmarks including MMLU and C-Eval. It received the highest rating (Level 5) from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology's "Trusted AI" large model evaluation, making it the first LLM in China to achieve that classification.
KwaiYii powers several internal applications including video script generation, real-time live streaming script generation, advertising customer service, and digital human technology.
Kolors / KeTu (Image Generation)
Kolors (also marketed as KeTu, 可图) is Kuaishou's text-to-image generation model based on latent diffusion. The model has 2.7 billion parameters and was trained on billions of text-image pairs.[10] It uses a General Language Model (GLM) as its text encoder, supporting bilingual Chinese and English prompts with a context window of up to 256 tokens.[10]
Kolors is built on the SDXL model architecture and integrates ChatGLM technology for improved bilingual understanding. The Kuaishou team reported that Kolors outperforms both open-source models like SDXL and SD3 and closed-source models like Midjourney on certain benchmarks.[10]
Kuaishou open-sourced Kolors under the Apache-2.0 license for academic research, with the model available on both GitHub and Hugging Face.[7] Commercial use requires registration with the licensor.
Kolors 2.0, released in 2025, introduced improvements in prompt adherence, cinematic quality, and artistic style expression. It added capabilities such as image restyling, inpainting, and outpainting, along with support for over 60 stylistic effects.
Kling (Video Generation)
Kling is Kuaishou's flagship AI video generation model, first unveiled in June 2024. Built on a diffusion-based transformer architecture (DiT) enhanced with a proprietary 3D variational autoencoder (VAE), Kling "can generate videos up to two minutes long with a frame rate of 30fps and video resolution up to 1080p while supporting a variety of aspect ratios," according to Kuaishou's announcement.[6] The company noted that it "self-developed a 3D VAE network, achieving synchronous spatiotemporal compression and obtaining a high reconstruction quality."[6]
Kling became available to global users via a web portal in July 2024 and has since gone through multiple major version upgrades.[7]
| Version | Release Date | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Kling 1.0 | June 2024 | Text-to-video, image-to-video, up to 2 min at 1080p |
| Kling 1.6 | December 2024 | Improved text responsiveness, motion quality, color accuracy, multi-image reference |
| Kling 2.0 | April 2025 | Cinematic quality improvements, DeepSeek integration |
| Kling 2.1 | May 2025 | Multiple quality modes |
| Kling 2.5 Turbo | September 2025 | Enhanced text-to-video and image-to-video, reduced costs |
| Kling O1 | December 2025 | Unified multimodal model (text, video, image, subject inputs) |
| Kling Video 2.6 | December 2025 | Simultaneous audio-visual generation |
Kling AI achieved an annualized revenue run rate (ARR) exceeding $100 million in March 2025, only ten months after launch.[15] By December 2025, monthly revenue surpassed $20 million and the ARR reached $240 million, reached just 19 months after launch.[8] Kling generated RMB 1.04 billion (approximately $153 million) in full-year 2025 revenue, and Kuaishou reported the ARR surpassed $300 million in January 2026.[8][18] As of December 2025, Kling AI served over 60 million creators worldwide, had generated more than 600 million videos, and maintained partnerships with over 30,000 enterprise users.[8]
Kling AI uses a dual monetization model: individual subscriptions (priced at RMB 66 to RMB 666 per month, roughly $9 to $93) and enterprise API services for corporate clients and developers. In Q1 2025, roughly 70% of Kling's revenue came from individual subscriptions, with the remaining 30% from enterprise clients.
In March 2025, Kuaishou integrated DeepSeek-R1 into the Kling AI platform, allowing users to leverage the large language model for brainstorming and prompt optimization before generating videos or images.[16]
Is Kuaishou spinning off Kling AI?
In May 2026, Kuaishou disclosed that it was in preliminary talks to spin off Kling AI into a standalone entity, raising new funding at a valuation of about USD 20 billion in a pre-IPO round targeting roughly USD 2 billion, with potential investors including Tencent.[19] Kuaishou's Hong Kong-listed shares jumped as much as 10% on the reports.[19] The plan, described as preliminary in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, would make Kling one of the largest standalone AI video businesses, with reports pointing to a possible separate listing in 2027.[19]
For a detailed treatment of Kling's architecture, capabilities, and competitive positioning, see the dedicated Kling AI article.
Competition
Kuaishou's primary competitor in China's short-video market is ByteDance, which operates Douyin (the domestic Chinese version of TikTok). Douyin holds the leading position in China's short-form video market by user base, while Kuaishou occupies a strong second place.
Market Positioning
The two platforms have historically targeted somewhat different demographics. Douyin built its early user base in first- and second-tier cities with polished, trend-driven content, while Kuaishou cultivated a loyal following in lower-tier cities and rural areas with more authentic, grassroots content. Over time, both platforms have expanded to overlap significantly in their user demographics.
Kuaishou's algorithm distributes traffic more evenly among creators compared to Douyin's approach, which tends to concentrate views on trending content. This design choice fosters stronger trust-based relationships between creators and their audiences, which in turn supports higher conversion rates in live commerce.
Competitive Landscape
| Feature | Kuaishou | Douyin (ByteDance) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Market | Lower-tier cities, rural China | Tier 1-2 cities, trending content |
| Algorithm Philosophy | Broad distribution, community-focused | Engagement-optimized, viral-driven |
| DAU (2024) | ~400 million | ~700+ million (estimated) |
| E-commerce GMV (2024) | RMB 1.39 trillion | Significantly larger |
| International Version | Kwai, SnackVideo | TikTok |
| AI Video Generation | Kling | Jimeng (various models) |
Beyond ByteDance, Kuaishou also faces competition from Bilibili (in longer-form video content), WeChat Channels (backed by Tencent), and various other short-video and live streaming platforms in China.
How does Kling compare to Sora and Veo?
In the AI generative media space, Kling competes with OpenAI's Sora, Runway's Gen series, Pika, Google's Veo, and other video generation platforms. Kling distinguishes itself on commercialization: by reaching a $240 million ARR within 19 months of its June 2024 launch, it became one of the highest-grossing standalone AI video products globally, a position that underpinned the proposed $20 billion spin-off valuation.[8][19]
Corporate Structure and Governance
Leadership
| Name | Role | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Cheng Yixiao | Co-founder, Chairman, CEO | Northeastern University (Software Engineering); former HP, Renren |
| Su Hua | Co-founder, Executive Director | Tsinghua University (Computer Software); former Google China, Baidu |
Key Shareholders (at IPO)
| Shareholder | Approximate Stake |
|---|---|
| Tencent | 21.6% |
| 5Y Capital (Morningside) | 16.7% |
| Sequoia Capital China | Significant minority |
| Baidu | Minority |
| Temasek | Minority |
Employees
As of December 31, 2024, Kuaishou Technology employed 24,718 people, a decrease of approximately 6.4% compared to the previous year.[1]
Key Milestones
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| March 2011 | GIF Kuaishou app launched by Cheng Yixiao |
| Late 2012 | Pivot from GIF tool to short video platform |
| November 2013 | Su Hua joins as co-founder and CEO |
| 2014 | Series B funding ($10M) from Sequoia China and DCM |
| 2017 | Tencent leads $350M Series D; Kwai launched internationally |
| 2018 | $1B Series E led by Tencent and Sequoia China |
| 2019 | 200M+ DAU; $3B Series F led by Tencent |
| February 2021 | IPO on Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1024.HK); raised $5.3B |
| October 2021 | Su Hua steps down as CEO; Cheng Yixiao becomes CEO |
| August 2023 | KwaiYii-13B large language model released |
| October 2023 | Su Hua steps down as Chairman; Cheng Yixiao assumes Chairman role |
| May 2024 | KuaiFormer recommendation framework deployed in the Kuaishou app |
| June 2024 | Kling AI video generation model launched |
| July 2024 | Kolors image generation model open-sourced; Kling opens global beta |
| FY2024 | Revenue reaches RMB 126.9B; DAU surpasses 400M |
| March 2025 | Kling AI reaches $100M ARR |
| December 2025 | Kling O1 and Video 2.6 launched; Kling ARR reaches $240M |
| FY2025 | Revenue reaches RMB 142.8B; adjusted net profit RMB 20.6B |
| May 2026 | Kuaishou discloses Kling spin-off talks at ~$20B valuation |
References
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results." ir.kuaishou.com, March 2025. ↩
- CNBC. "Kuaishou IPO: Stock rises 160% in $5.3 billion Hong Kong debut." cnbc.com, February 5, 2021. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Senior Management: Mr. Cheng Yixiao." ir.kuaishou.com. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Senior Management: Mr. Su Hua." ir.kuaishou.com. ↩
- Nikkei Asia. "Tencent leads Kuaishou's $3bn pre-IPO funding." asia.nikkei.com, December 2019. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Kuaishou Unveils Proprietary Video Generation Model 'Kling;' Testing Now Available." ir.kuaishou.com / prnewswire.com, June 2024. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Kuaishou Unveils Comprehensive AI Models, Reshaping Content and Commercial Ecosystem with AI." ir.kuaishou.com, July 2024. ↩
- PRNewswire / Kuaishou Technology. "Kling AI Annualized Revenue Run Rate Hits USD240 Million in December 2025." prnewswire.com, January 13, 2026. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Third Quarter 2025 Unaudited Financial Results." ir.kuaishou.com, November 2025. ↩
- Kwai-Kolors. "Kolors: Effective Training of Diffusion Model for Photorealistic Text-to-Image Synthesis." github.com/Kwai-Kolors/Kolors. ↩
- South China Morning Post. "Kuaishou expands aggressively in Brazil, Southeast Asia to challenge TikTok." scmp.com, June 2021. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Kling O1 Launches as the World's First Unified Multimodal Video Model." ir.kuaishou.com, December 2025.
- South China Morning Post. "How Kuaishou, Hong Kong's hottest IPO in 2021, became a cautionary tale." scmp.com, September 2021. ↩
- PRNewswire. "Kuaishou Announces Management Roles Adjustment." prnewswire.com, October 29, 2021. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Kling AI Celebrates First Anniversary; Achieves Annualized Revenue Run Rate Surpassing USD100 Million." ir.kuaishou.com, June 2025. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Kuaishou Kling AI Integrates DeepSeek, Lowering the Entry Barrier for AI-Powered Creative Content." ir.kuaishou.com, March 2025. ↩
- Liu, Chi; Cao, Jiangxia; Huang, Rui; et al. "KuaiFormer: Transformer-Based Retrieval at Kuaishou." arXiv:2411.10057, November 2024. ↩
- Kuaishou Technology Investor Relations. "Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results." ir.kuaishou.com, March 2026. ↩
- South China Morning Post. "Kuaishou shares soar as Kling AI eyes US$20 billion valuation in potential spin-off." scmp.com, May 2026. ↩
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