China Hardware - Software

Young entrepreneur, creator of happiness Born in China, Su Hua does not come from a privileged background. amount of information. Indeed, the platform has more than 5 bn It is said that the entrepreneur grew up in Hunan Province, in a of user-generated content since its inception. Su Hua’s will may village without electricity until 1992. Despite everything, the seem somewhat idealistic: to raise the level of happiness with ‘‘young man graduated from Tsinghua University with a bachelor’s technology. This is why the idea is not to privilege any user and degree in science. He began his career at in USA then at to give voice to « ordinary » individuals. While Tik Tok caters to city . dwellers and influencers, KuaiShou primarily targets rural dwellers

Su Hua During her two-year stint at Google, Su Hua worked on information and migrant workers across China. system optimization. He reflects on the different problems of 2nd leader in China behind Douyin (Tik Tok), KuaiShou (Kwai or humanity that can be solved with artificial intelligence. These Zynn outside of China) is not unknown abroad. The application

experiences inspire him and make him want to start his own was exported to the international market at the end of 2017 and At 39, Su Hua is the co-founder and leader of Kuaishou,

business. In 2011, therefore well before the arrival of Tik Tok is at the top of downloads on Google Play and the App Store in a viral short video platform in China and Tik Tok’s main (Douyin in China), he joined forces with Chen Yixiao, a former 8 countries (including South Korea, Russia, Thailand and Turkey). competitor. ‘ ‘‘ The leader led the largest IPO in tech since , placing employee of Hewlett-Packard and created KuaiShou, originally Although short video rival ByteDance’s TikTok is better known his fortune at the top of the Chinese ranking ($25.9bn). a service allowing the creation of Gifs (successions of ‘moving outside of China, KuaiShou entered the industry earlier and , (source: Forbes, Février 2021) images commonly used on the internet). remains a big player. A pioneer since its inception, the app is also first in the industry to introduce a «parental control» feature that Two years later, as smartphones gain importance, KuaiShou turns a corner and is transformed into a platform for users to record protects children and young people. and share short videos, often from everyday life. Su Hua is then Finally, Su Hua was able to successfully complete a record IPO. With convinced that loneliness, in an increasingly digital world is a valuation of more than $180bn and a fundraising of $5.4bn, it is an important problem and that this platform is an answer. The the biggest IPO in tech sector since Uber in 2019. The share price st Headquarter in KuaiShou baseline is moreover «capture the world, share your almost tripled as of 1 day of listing! (22%) and Blackrock 20 000 employees story». are investors. nd platform in China and st competitor of 2 1 « I found the secret to happiness: capturing ideas and The app doesn’t just generate its revenue through advertising.

MONTHLY TYCOON - FEBRUARY 2021 - FEBRUARY TYCOON MONTHLY Douyin (Tik Tok) moments in life, then sharing them with the world in KuaiShou also operates on a system of gifts and rewards for content Revenue 2020 : $6Bn KEY FIGURES KEY Market capitalization :$180Bn videos, » says Su Hua. creators and is now venturing into the field of mobile games with

IPO February 2021: $5.5Bn fundraising In 2013, the application reached 100M daily users. In 2019, this in-app purchases and e-commerce.

86 min/day using figure exceeds 200M daily active users. KuaiShou’s success is The entrepreneur lives in Beijing with his wife. Su Hua owns 11.8% 10 connections/user/day partly based on the ability to introduce specific recommendation of the company or $19.2bn. Chen Yixiao, his partner, holds a 9% algorithms based on simultaneous user behavior, in particular to stake valued at $15.3bn. Their participation also includes special ‘‘ 360M users avoid always offering same content. This poses an unprecedented shares representing 10x the voting rights of ordinary shares. Douyin : 600 M daily users, leader in China challenge: the ability to manage and process the enormous Kuaishou : 305 M daily users CHINA Chine: 1st smartphone users in the world (4.35 hours online per day in 2019) “Kuaishou’s successful IPO is of great positive importance for the VIDEO MARKET IN IN MARKET VIDEO 30% of that time spent on social and video monetization of the entire Chinese short video market. « entertainment platforms in 2019. 1