ByteDance was rumoured to be in talks to raise $2 billion before listing some of its operations in Hong Kong, including the Chinese version of its popular social media app TikTok.

Bloomberg reported the China-based company was holding discussions about the funding with a group of investors, including venture capital company Sequoia.

The report claimed ByteDance was looking for the cash boost before making an initial public offering (IPO) of some of its major businesses, including the Chinese version of TikTok called Douyin and news app Toutiao.

ByteDance was expected to reach a value of $180 billion, the news agency stated.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported the company’s valuation totalled $140 billion, with some of its investors pricing TikTok alone at $50 billion.

ByteDance is under pressure from the US to list TikTok within the next year and sell a 20 per cent stake to Oracle and Walmart, to avoid being banned over national security concerns.