Baidu Video secures $100m Series B round

The video aggregator, which spun out of Baidu in September 2016, claims to have indexed over 800 million videos and recorded more than 600 million downloads on its mobile app. It is said to have about 70 million monthly active users.

The Series B will be used for producing original content, adding more user-generated content, and for R&D on the use of artificial intelligence in daily operations. Baidu Video received a RMB500 million ($73.1 million) Series A from SAIF Partners, Sailing Capital, Shanghai New Culture Media Group in 2016.

China's short-form video streaming market attracts users through user-generated and humorous content on topics such as make-up advice and food. According to iiMedia Research, about 242 million people watched short videos domestically in 2017, and this figure is expected to reach more than 350 million by the end of 2018.

Baidu Video's main competitors in this space include TikTok and Kuaishou, which claimed to have 50 million daily active users as of last year when it received a $350 million round led by Tencent Holdings. All three players don't charge fees for watching short videos in a bid to encourage more users to participate.

iQiyi, a video streaming company backed by Baidu, Hillhouse Capital and Xiaomi Ventures, charges subscriptions fees but focuses on producing long-form TV dramas and movies. The company received a $1.5 billion investment last year that included a $300 million commitment from Baidu.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Media
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• Baidu
• TMT