Kuaishou closes Kling AI financing at reported $18B valuation

Kuaishou Technology said on October 30, 2026 that Beijing Kling, the unit behind the Kling AI video generator, has completed a financing of about 19.8 billion yuan, or roughly $2.98 billion, Reuters reported. The transaction is reported to value the business at approximately $18 billion post-money.

The financing is the same transaction reported in July 2026, closed and reported again. It is not a second raise, and the two figures are not additive. The July round was reported at about $2.8 billion with a pre-money valuation of about $15 billion, and the October disclosure completes that process. TechSignal stated the point directly, writing that the figures describe stages of one financing rather than evidence that Kling received two independent investments totaling nearly $5.8 billion.

Kuaishou keeps control. Through its Lucky Labs holding vehicle it will hold about two-thirds of the equity and 52.45 percent of the voting rights in Kling, according to the Reuters report. Equity and voting rights are separate measures: the first is an ownership interest, the second governs participation in specified corporate decisions, so the two percentages are not comparable and should not be conflated.

New investors named in the October reporting include a unit of Hong Kong-listed Kingdee International, which put in 300 million yuan; Gongqingcheng Junke, at 200 million yuan; and a unit of Shanghai-listed chip designer MetaX, at 100 million yuan. Reuters reported that the new investors partially took over commitments from earlier backers and received redemption rights, a structuring detail that suggests part of the round was arranged rather than a clean primary raise. Kuaishou did not disclose how Kling would use the proceeds, Reuters reported.

The roughly $18 billion figure is a reported post-money valuation, meaning the value assigned to the business after the new investment is counted. It is not a number independently confirmed from complete closing documentation. Valuation is also not revenue or cash: it reflects a price agreed in a transaction and can embed expectations about future growth. TechSignal stated that the available evidence does not establish Kling's profitability or its technological superiority over competing video models, and Kuaishou has not claimed either.

Kling has an operating product with reported revenue. Reuters previously cited about 650 million yuan of Kling AI revenue in the first quarter of 2026, and SLOP TV has reported Kuaishou's own figure of more than RMB 850 million for the second quarter of 2026, which the company said was up more than 200 percent year over year. Kling competes with AI video generation models from OpenAI, Google and TikTok owner ByteDance, per Reuters.

A public listing is the reported next step, not a confirmed one. Bloomberg reported on October 6, 2026 that Kling had picked CICC, Goldman Sachs and UBS for a Hong Kong listing that could raise at least $1 billion, and that Kling is planning an IPO next year. No confirmed timetable, approved offering or final listing terms exist.

For creators, the practical read is indirect. A closing at this size does not change what Kling generates or what it costs, and no model or pricing change was announced with it. If the compute the round funds keeps inference prices where they are, or lets Kling hold clip lengths at a given price, that matters at the point of purchase. If the reported listing proceeds, a separately capitalized Kling with its own disclosure obligations becomes a different counterparty for enterprise buyers. Both are conditional.

The next catalyst is the IPO process. Kling would still have to complete its restructuring and file listing documents before any Hong Kong offering can proceed, and the completed round now gives bankers a recent price marker to work from.