Technology Author：Yifan Zhang Editor：Yijuan Li Apr 14, 2022 08:20 PM (GMT+8)

The company, once popular for its flagship photo-editing app, has developed SaaS business to unleash growth

meitu

China’s AI-driven technology company Meitu (01357: HK) (Chinese: 美图) reported on March 30 a revenue of CNY 1.67 billion (USD 262.2 million) in 2021, up 39.5% year on year.

The company’s growth came from VIP subscriptions and image SaaS services, which have become its new driving force beyond the established sector of online advertising. The revenue of premium subscription and SaaS businesses reached CNY 519.5 million, surging by 146.9% over the previous year.

Meitu’s membership service targets users’ personalized needs, attracting around 4.5 million paying subscribers worldwide in 2021. The company is planning to expand its subscription services in other business scenarios.

In terms of the sector of SaaS, Meitu has launched products including Meitu Imaging & Vision Lab and Meitu AI Open Platforms, aiming to fuel the digitalization of the industry. 

The company seeks opportunities to apply its image technologies in fields like e-commerce live stream and film production, Meitu’s founder and CEO Wu Xinhong said.

Meitu remains the largest Chinese image processing platform in terms of users scale, followed by ByteDance’s Qingyan Camera (Chinese: 轻颜相机) and Faceu (Chinese: Faceu激萌).