Internet group Tencent has led a $350m funding round for China-based photo and video sharing platform Kuaishou, news outlet Tencent Technology reported yesterday.
Founded in 2011, Kuaishou has built an app that enables its youthful user base to post and share images and videos. It has also crossed over into livestreaming, and has more than 400 million users, roughly 50 million of which are daily active users.
Additional investors in the round were not revealed but Kuaishou intends to work with both Tencent and one of its existing backers, internet company Baidu, to improve user experience of the product.
The new funding will support further development of the company’s technology and product, with artificial intelligence and video analytics named as key elements of its research and development plans.
The round was closed weeks after reports emerged that Kuaishou is preparing to go public in the US in the second half of 2017. The company did not disclose a valuation for its latest round but sources told TechCrunch last month it is valued at about $3bn.
Kuaishou had previously received $10m in series B funding in 2014 from the Chinese branches of venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and DCM before securing an eight-figure dollar amount in a 2016 series C round featuring Baidu and China Media Capital that valued it at $2bn, according to China Money Network.