Kling picks CICC, Goldman and UBS to test a 30-times-revenue valuation in Hong Kong

Bloomberg's headline puts Kling at $15 billion after the July raise ^[22]. Crypto Briefing reports about $18 billion post-money for the same round ^[21]. The $3 billion gap is close to the $2.8 billion Kling raised ^[3], and $15 billion plus $2.8 billion comes to $17.8 billion ^[14]. One reading fits both: the first is a pre-money figure and the second a post-money one. Neither report says which basis it used, and the answer sets the line for a down round.

Kling reached a run rate of roughly $500 million by March ^[7]. Against that, the two valuations are 30 and 36 times revenue ^[15]. The run rate was about $240 million in December 2025 ^[8], so it roughly doubled in a quarter ^[18]. Second-quarter revenue topped RMB 850 million, up more than 200% on a year earlier ^[9]. Four quarters at that level would be about RMB 3.4 billion ^[19]. All of these operating figures come from Crypto Briefing's report. The growth also has to hold against a direct rival. Kling 4.0, released on September 28 with clips of up to 30 seconds, is positioned against ByteDance's Seedance ^[13].

A raise of at least $1 billion ^[1] is about 6.7% of a $15 billion company and 5.6% of an $18 billion one, leaving roughly 94% outside the offering ^[16]. Kuaishou is expected to keep about 68% ^[6], and Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu all bought into the July round ^[5]. If the deal prices at or above $18 billion, the private mark holds. Between $15 billion and $18 billion, it is a down round on one report's basis and flat on the other's. Below $15 billion, public buyers have marked down the growth the July investors paid for.

I think the larger effect lands on Kuaishou, which is listed in Hong Kong as 1024 ^[10]. Its stake of about 68% works out to about $10.2 billion at $15 billion and about $12.2 billion at $18 billion ^[17]. A traded Kling price would put a daily number on that stake. Kuaishou has funded Kling with outside money and accepted the dilution, and at 68% it keeps control ^[6]. The counter-case is that a float near 6% says little about what the other 94% would fetch, so the mark Kuaishou gets would be thin. The view is wrong if Kuaishou's own shares do not move when Kling's price range is set.

Kling launched in 2024 ^[12]. The reports cover one company and do not say whether other Chinese AI units plan the same route to Hong Kong. Kling's investors did write a deadline into the terms. After the May restructuring into an entity called Beijing Keling, they hold repurchase rights if Kling has not listed by October 30, 2031 ^[11], about five years after the October 6 reports ^[20].