Telegram has raised one billion dollars from foreign investors by issuing bonds, also bought by Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners
Encrypted messaging service Telegram has issued more than $1 billion in bonds needed to finance its growth.
The announcement comes from its Russian co-founder Pavel Dourov, on his Telegram channel.
The funding round included a combined investment of $150 million from Mubadala Investment Co and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners. The latter is partly owned by the Abu Dhabi state fund.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund said Tuesday it had joined Mubadala in buying Telegram's convertible bonds, but the messaging app denied that the Kremlin-controlled entity was an investor, Bloomberg reports. Russian regulators attempted to shut down the messaging service in 2018 when it refused to give law enforcement encryption keys to read messages.
TELEGRAM ISSUES BONDS
Yesterday Telegram announced that it raised over $1 billion by issuing bonds.
THE FINANCING OF MUBADALA AND ABU DHABI CP
Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners each announced that they have each made a $75 million investment in pre-initial public offering convertible bonds on Telegram,
AND OPENS IN ABU DHABI
According to Reuters Telegram will open an office in Abu Dhabi following the investment, strengthening its regional presence from a base in Dubai, UAE.
TO FINANCE GROWTH
“This will allow Telegram to continue to grow globally while staying true to its values and remaining independent,” Durov wrote.
It was founded in 2013 by brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who also founded the Russian social media network VKontakte.
“These assets will accelerate the monetization strategies I outlined in December,” Durov added, referring to a post announcing that the company had grown to a size with its first 500 million users that it needed new funds to become sustainable and start making revenue.
AFTER GRAM'S FAILED ATTEMPT
In reality, Durov's company was forced to raise funds to repay investors as well. The ICO attempt for its cryptocurrency Gram failed in fact due to a ban imposed by the Securities & Exchange Commission.
OBJECTIVE MONETIZATION FOR TELEGRAM
“As I said when I launched Telegram nearly 8 years ago, the ultimate goal for Telegram is to become a financially viable project that can serve humanity for decades, or centuries.
Today's news is another step towards this goal,” Durov concluded in his post.
AD-FREE
The platform has also rejected the idea of using user data to target ads, a move that would undermine the strong privacy promises Telegram repeatedly makes to users to put distance between its app and competing services.
IMITATING CLUBHOUSE
Finally, earlier this week Telegram introduced a new feature called Voice Chat 2.0 within its Android app. This is the possibility of opening and participating in audio conversations, just like on Clubhouse, the social network of the moment.
However, Telegram's audio chats differ from the competition in a couple of unique elements: for example, participants can decide to remain "anonymous", choosing to simply be listed among the listeners, without revealing their real name or nickname. In addition, room administrators have the option to record all or part of the audio event, to republish it at a later time.
SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our mailing list to receive our newsletter
I confirm that I have read the privacy policy of Innovative Publishing and accept the processing of data as described therein.
We respect your privacy, we will not send you SPAM and we will not pass your email on to third parties
