Kling AI raises $2B as Kuaishou spins out

Kuaishou’s video-generation unit Kling AI raised $2 billion in a round reported July 2, at a valuation of about $15 billion before the new money. Alibaba joined the round alongside Baidu and existing Kuaishou backer Tencent, and the company said the raise could extend to roughly $3 billion as more investors participate. Kuaishou is spinning Kling out as a standalone company, with reports pointing to a Hong Kong IPO within the next 12 months.

The revenue base makes the valuation less speculative than most. Kling reached an annualized run rate around $500 million, with first-quarter revenue above 650 million yuan, roughly $96 million, and about 75% of it from overseas customers. That last number is the striking one: a Chinese AI product earning three quarters of its revenue outside China is rare, and it means Kling competes head-on with Western video models for the same paying users.

All three Chinese platform giants funding one video company, rather than each backing its own, reads as consolidation around a national champion in the category.

The same week saw TwelveLabs raise $100M on the understanding side of video, a useful pairing: one company generates footage, the other makes it searchable. For business use of generated media, the practical rights questions live in the AI images guide.