Kuaishou Technology is a Beijing-listed short-video and live-streaming group that also builds Kling AI. Its Kling 4.0 model, released in October 2026, makes 30-second clips, while group revenue grew just 1.4% in Q2 2026 as Kling revenue passed RMB850 million.
Kuaishou Technology, founded in Beijing in 2011 by Cheng Yixiao and Su Hua, runs the Kuaishou short-video app, which averaged 412.3 million daily active users in Q2 2026. It also owns Kling AI, maker of the newest Kling video model. Group revenue for the quarter was RMB35.5 billion, with live streaming shrinking.
Founded: 2011 · HQ: Beijing, China · Team: 6000-8000 · CEO: Cheng Yixiao · Funding: Public (HKEX:1024; IPO February 2021, about HK$41B raised). Outside investment in the Kling AI unit is reported by the press but unconfirmed. · Valuation: Publicly traded, so market value changes daily; check the exchange for the current figure.
About Kuaishou Technology
Kuaishou Technology was founded in March 2011 in Beijing by Cheng Yixiao and Su Hua. It began as "GIF Kuaishou", a mobile GIF-making app, and pivoted to short-form video in 2013. Cheng Yixiao is Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in February 2021 under ticker 1024, raising roughly HK$41 billion in what was then one of the largest technology IPOs of that year. It describes itself as a content community and social platform spanning short video, live streaming, online marketing, e-commerce, local services and gaming.
The core business is the Kuaishou app. In the second quarter of 2026 it averaged 412.3 million daily active users and 797.3 million monthly active users, per Kuaishou's results release of 19 August 2026. It competes for attention with ByteDance's Douyin, and the same two groups now compete in AI video, where ByteDance's Seedance 2.5 sits against Kuaishou's Kling models. Kwai, the international app, operates mainly in Brazil, Southeast Asia and the Middle East; Kuaishou reported an overseas segment operating loss of RMB25 million for the second quarter of 2026, against a RMB19 million profit a year earlier.
Kling AI is the unit that matters most to this directory. It launched in 2024 as a text-to-video and image-to-video service at klingai.com with a developer API, and it is tracked on Hokai as Kling and Kling 3.0. Kling 3.0 arrived in February 2026, and Kuaishou says it later rolled out native 4K output across the 3.0 series. On 15 October 2026 the company launched Kling 4.0, which Kuaishou's release says generates up to 30 seconds in a single pass, accepts up to 15 reference assets and 10 keyframes, outputs up to 10-bit HDR and takes prompts of up to 8,000 tokens. It is also reachable through Kling MCP and CLI for AI agents, and API access for developers was announced as coming soon. A Hokai record for Kling 4.0 does not exist yet, so the model page above covers 3.0.
The money tells the same story as the product. Kling revenue was RMB340 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, and Kuaishou said December 2025 monthly revenue passed USD20 million, an annualized run rate of USD240 million. In the second quarter of 2026 Kling generated over RMB850 million, more than 200% above the same quarter a year earlier. Kuaishou's "other services" line, which includes Kling, grew 18.5% to RMB6.2 billion that quarter. Full-year 2025 group revenue was RMB142.8 billion, up 12.5%, with adjusted net profit of RMB20.6 billion. Total available funds stood at RMB121.3 billion on 30 June 2026.
Where Kuaishou is weaker is the parent business. Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose only 1.4% to RMB35.5 billion, live streaming revenue fell 13.5% to RMB8.7 billion, gross margin slipped from 55.7% to 51.6%, and adjusted net profit dropped to RMB3.9 billion from RMB5.6 billion. Online marketing services, 58.1% of revenue, grew 4.4%. So Kling's growth is real but small beside a core that is flat to shrinking, and the company is spending to build it. Buyers outside China should also note that Kuaishou publishes no Western-style SOC 2 or ISO 27001 documentation and no system cards for Kling, so teams with strict compliance duties may prefer a Western vendor such as Runway or Google's Veo 3.1 from Google DeepMind.
Outside money for Kling has been reported but not confirmed in the filings read for this page. Press coverage in May and June 2026 said Kuaishou was exploring outside investment in the Kling unit, with General Atlantic reported in talks to lead a round of more than USD2 billion at about USD18 billion; reports named Tencent among investors and later items spoke of a Hong Kong listing for the unit. Kuaishou's own second-quarter release does not mention a financing, so treat these figures as reporting, not fact.
Other Chinese and global video-model builders to compare include MiniMax, Vidu and Alibaba's Wan 3.0. For a ranked view see our guide to the best AI video generators in 2026, the Kling vs Creatify comparison, and the piece on where Sora users went after the shutdown. If you are still choosing a tool, Smart Match can shortlist options against your use case.
Mission
To provide every individual with the equal right to be recorded and to broadcast.
Products
- Kuaishou App (Consumer short-video platform): https://kuaishou.com
- Kwai (International short-video platform): https://www.kwai.com
- Kling AI (AI video and image generation (Kling 4.0 launched 15 Oct 2026)): https://klingai.com
- Kling API (Developer video generation API): https://kling.ai/dev
Kuaishou Technology Models on Hokai
Links
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Kuaishou Technology actually sell?
Kuaishou earns money from three lines: online marketing services at 58.1% of second-quarter 2026 revenue, live streaming at 24.5%, and other services at 17.4%, a bucket that includes e-commerce and Kling AI. Its products are the Kuaishou app, the international Kwai app, and Kling AI, an AI video and image service with a web studio and a developer API. The newest Kling model adds multi-reference control, and the company says API access for enterprises will follow. Consumer plan prices sit on Kling's own membership page and change often.
Who founded Kuaishou and who runs it today?
Cheng Yixiao and Su Hua founded the company in Beijing, first as a GIF-making app and from 2013 as a short-video platform. In Kuaishou's own 2026 results releases, Cheng Yixiao is named Co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The shares have traded in Hong Kong under ticker 1024 since February 2021, with an RMB counter at 81024. Board and senior management lists live on ir.kuaishou.com, so check there for any change in roles.
How fast is Kling AI growing, and has it raised outside money?
Kuaishou reports Kling revenue of RMB340 million in Q4 2025, then growth of more than 200% year over year in Q2 2026. Its December 2025 monthly figure implied an annualized run rate of USD240 million. On funding, press reports from May and June 2026 described talks to bring in outside investors, with General Atlantic reported as lead on a round above USD2 billion at roughly USD18 billion. Kuaishou's Q2 2026 results release does not mention a closed financing, so treat the valuation as unconfirmed reporting, not a completed deal.
Is Kuaishou or Kling AI SOC 2, GDPR or HIPAA compliant?
No Western certification is published. We found no SOC 2, ISO 27001 or HIPAA documentation, no GDPR data processing agreement and no public trust center for Kuaishou or Kling as of October 2026. The group operates under China's Personal Information Protection Law, Cybersecurity Law and Data Security Law, and it publishes no Western-style system cards for Kling. For regulated work involving personal data, that gap usually rules Kling out as a processor, whereas Runway and Google's Veo family document their controls more fully.
Which companies compete with Kuaishou?
In short video, the main rival is ByteDance with Douyin, and Kuaishou's own results releases describe a market where AI features and live streaming both compete for the same time. In AI video generation Kling meets ByteDance's Seedance, Google DeepMind's Veo, Runway, Alibaba's Wan series, MiniMax and Vidu, all of which have Hokai records. Kling's pitch is control and clip length, shown by its newest release's long single-pass generation and reference system. Its weak spots are the compliance gap above and a parent company whose live streaming revenue fell 13.5% in Q2 2026.
Top Alternatives
- ByteDance: ByteDance pairs Douyin with its Seedance video models; Kuaishou answers with Kling, whose newest release adds long single-pass clips and multi-reference control, but it publishes less compliance documentation.
Hokai guides covering Kuaishou Technology
- Sora's API Shuts Down September 24. Kling Is Winning the Refugees, at a Cost Nobody Prices In.: Sora's API dies September 24, 2026. Kling now prices video at 12 cents a second, but its Chinese ownership carries a legal risk most reviews never mention.
Also mentioned in
- Viggle AI Alternatives in 2026: Free, Open-Source and No-Watermark Options: Viggle's free plan watermarks every video. We compare Wan2.2-Animate, DomoAI, Runway Act-Two and Kling on price, limits and local use, and when to stay put.
- Wan 3.0 vs Seedance 2.5: Price, Control and What Nobody Has Measured: Wan 3.0 lists $0.05 to $0.20 a second. Seedance 2.5 lists $0.103 to $0.569 but adds reference, editing and extension tools. Which video model to use.
- Kling AI vs Zorq AI: Direct Model or Anonymous Aggregator?: Kling AI vs Zorq AI, re-checked 8 November 2026: Kling 4.0 is live direct, Zorq still sells 3.0, and a 10-second clip costs about 2.5x more on Zorq AI.