Bytedance, the China-based digital media company backed by technology and trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG), is looking to raise $3bn in funding at a $75bn valuation, Reuters reported today.
The company is seeking to secure capital at a valuation of $70bn to $75bn, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter, though it is still in discussions with banks over an initial public offering in Hong Kong in 2019.
Founded in 2012, Bytedance is best known for its core product, Toutiao, a curated news aggregation app that had 120 million daily active users as of the start of 2018.
In addition to Toutiao, Bytedance has also acquired photo editing and display platform Faceu and short-form video platform Musical.ly, which the company folded into its TikTok app this week.
E-commerce group Alibaba approached Bytedance for an acquisition earlier this year but was turned down, two sources told Reuters. Reports last month stating that it favoured an IPO placed a prospective valuation at $40bn to $45bn.
SIG and businessman Yuri Milner both participated in series A and B rounds of undisclosed size for the company in 2012 and 2013 which were followed by a $100m series C led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and backed by internet company Sina in 2014.
The series C round valued Bytedance at $500m, and Sina exited in the company’s $1bn series D round, which was co-led by Sequoia Capital and CCB International, part of financial services firm China Construction Bank, in April 2017 at an $11bn valuation.
Growth equity firm General Atlantic subsequently led a $2bn round for the company in August 2017 that valued it at $20bn, before Bytedance secured $300m in convertible bond financing from KKR earlier this year.
Internet group Tencent was also an early backer but has since divested its stake in the company, two separate sources told Reuters.