Telegram is an instant messaging application that emphasizes privacy and encryption. Since its launch in 2013, Telegram has not generated any profit or revenue until 2018 at least. Thus, how can telegram get money?
Telegram is famous as one of the ‘clean’ message sharing platforms from advertisements. Telegram founder Pavel Durov himself ensures that customers will still be able to enjoy Telegram for free.
How does Telegram meet its financial needs?
Citing the Four Week MBA page, Telegram fulfills its financial needs through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) event. ICO itself is an alternative to raising funds through the crypto money market (cryptocurrency).
In 2018, Telegram managed to raise approximately US $ 1.7 billion from the ICO event. Then, Telegram obtained more than US $ 1 billion through two ICO offers.
Unfortunately, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stopped the ICO in 2019.
Meanwhile, 80 percent of the funds obtained from the ICO are used by companies for equipment procurement, bandwidth, colocation, and user verification costs. The remainder will be allocated for salaries, offices, and legal and consulting services.
Pavel Durov dicovered Telegram in 2013.Before founding Telegram, he and his brother Nikolai had created the VK social network in 2006.
VK is becoming a very popular social media application in Russia and Europe. However, both of them sold VK’s shares to Russian CEO Megafon Ivan Tavrin in 2014.
Telegram Maintains Data Confidentiality
Unlike other instant messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, Telegram takes data confidentiality seriously.
“Thanks to the infrastructure and multi-center encryption, Telegram is faster and much more secure,” said the official Telegram website.
In addition, Durov also ensures that his party will keep Telegram free of charge, aka free while trying to maintain its growth.
In his blog, Durov shows that he believes in fast and secure messaging that is also 100 percent free.
However, he also said on the blog that if Telegram ran out of money to survive, he might introduce a non-essential paid option, to increase the developer’s salary.
However, as long as Durov is in control of Telegram, it is certain that Telegram will not make money from advertising.
“For us, your personal data is sacred. We never use your data to target advertisements. And also, we never disclose your data to third parties. We only store what is absolutely necessary for Telegram to function,” the company management wrote in a White Paper. Telegram.
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