Telegram founder says the corporate will develop into worthwhile subsequent 12 months

Telegram founder Pavel Durov mentioned that the corporate expects to hit profitability subsequent 12 months with eyes on going public sooner or later.

The chat app, which crossed 900 million customers, is making “hundreds of millions of dollars” by way of adverts and subscriptions, Durov advised the Financial Times in an interview. He talked about that whereas international buyers have supplied the corporate cash at a greater than $30 billion valuation, Telegram goals to go public sooner or later.

“The main reason why we started to monetize is because we wanted to remain independent. Generally speaking, we see value in [an IPO] as a means to democratize access to Telegram’s value,” he advised FT.

Whereas Telegram will not be seeking to elevate a mega spherical, the corporate is open to funding in change for smaller fairness.

Telegram launched a Premium subscription two years ago and inside months crossed the mark of 1 million paid users. The corporate additionally gives advert options for one-to-many channels and plans to launch ad revenue sharing with channel owners this month. Durov advised FT that advert options at present are restricted to sure geographies and the corporate mandates businesses to spend between €1mn and €10mn. Telegram is seeking to broaden advert choices globally this 12 months and likewise make room for small ticket spenders.

Earlier this month, the corporate introduced that personal users can convert their accounts to business accounts by paying a subscription payment.

Aside from these options, Telegram has additionally experimented with blockchain-based tasks by way of the TON basis. In December 2022, the corporate auctioned premium usernames using TON Blockchain to let folks use the app with none SIM. In September 2023, Telegram added a self-custodial crypto wallet globally except in the U.S.

Durov has mentioned up to now that Telegram desires to launch AI-powered chatbots for customer support for enterprise customers. The corporate additionally plans to put money into AI to resolve moderation points that always plague the platform.