Ex-Googler turns virtual gifts into a US$61bil business

Kuaishou (pic), which means ‘fast hand’, is one of China’s biggest Internet success stories of the past decade, part of a generation of startups that thrived with backing from Tencent Holdings Ltd. Along with TikTok parent ByteDance, the outfit pioneered the livestreaming and bite-sized video format that’s since been adopted around the world by the likes of Facebook Inc. — Reuters

In China’s popular online-streaming industry, virtual gift-giving is big. You can send your favourite live performer anything from a rose for 5 yuan (RM3.14) to a space rocket for 500 yuan (RM312.84).

The present is just a symbol, but the money is real – and that’s what’s made Kuaishou Technology so successful.