Encrypted messaging app Telegram succeeds in doubling the money they raised to $1.7 billion, the biggest to date.
Telegram Group Inc., an encrypted messaging app, managed to increase their proceeds to a whopping $1.7 billion in coin of. This is according to a regulatory filing submitted last week.
The British Virgin Islands-registered company was able to raise $850 initially in February. They then raised another $850 million from 94 investors last month. In the filing, the company has also indicated plans to “pursue one or more subsequent offerings”.
Gennady Zhilyaev, a former executive of Templeton Emerging Markets Group in Russia, explains the good results. “Raising the planned amount is a success for Telegram, given that the Bitcoin decline in recent weeks made investors more cautious toward crypto-assets,” he said.
Founded by Russian Pavel Durov, the company plans to use the proceeds to develop the Telegram Open Network (TON) blockchain. This will included their own cryptocurrency aptly named Gram. According to Telegram documents, their transaction speeds aim to surpass Bitcoin and Ethereum. Their service also plans to compete with the likes of Visa and Mastercard.
The success of their ICO was sort of unprecedented given its popularity in the crypto community. The group messaging of the app seems to be used by the majority of ICO projects. AÂ blog from the company in March shared that they have already reached 200,000,000 users within the last 30 days.
