35-year-old creates most valuable start-up
When Zhang Yiming first shopped the idea of a news aggregation app powered by artificial intelligence six years ago, investors including Sequoia Capital, were skeptical.
Back then, the question was how a 29-year-old locally trained software engineer could outsmart the numerous news portals operated by the likes of social media behemoth Tencent Holdings and extract profit where even Google had failed.
General Atlantic had no immediate comment, while KKR didn’t respond to an emailed query.
The Information first reported that the Chinese company was in talks with SoftBank and KKR about a deal.
Bytedance is among the largest of a new generation of Chinese internet giants challenging the longstanding dominance of Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding. Unlike peers such as Didi or Meituan, it’s grown without the backing of either Tencent or Alibaba into one of the country’s most popular online services.
Zhang, now 35, proved them wrong. Today his company, Bytedance, is on its way to a more than $75 billion valuation — a price tag that surpasses Uber Technologies to top the world, according to CB Insights.
The latest in a long line of investors who’ve come around is Softbank Group, which is said to be planning to invest about $1.5 billion. Bytedance now counts KKR & Co., General Atlantic and even Sequoia as backers.