Telegram has raised an initial $850M for its billion-dollar ICO

It looks like Telegram’s billion-dollar ICO has reached its first milestone after the chat app company raised an initial $850 million, according to a filing.

A document submitted to the SEC earlier this week states that the money was raised “for the development of the TON Blockchain, the development and maintenance of Telegram Messenger and the other purposes.” The security is described as “purchase agreements for cryptocurrency” and the filing is signed by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.

Read our earlier story for full details from Telegram’s TON white paper.

This initial sum is most likely the pre-sale stage of the ICO which, as TechCrunch reported on extensively and in detail last month, was targeted at venture capital firms and top figures in the investment community who were given deep discounts to buy Telegram’s Gram token. The pre-sale was originally targeted at raising $600 million, but demand pushed the figure up to $850 million, according to a Bloomberg report.

Telegram initially planned to raise a further $600 million to develop its TON project via a public sale that starts in March, according to documents seen by TechCrunch, but it remains to be seen whether that figure will be adjusted. Bloomberg previously suggested the public sale component would expand to $1.15 billion, bringing the total raised to nearly $2 billion if successful.

Telegram CEO Durov did not reply to an emailed request for comment at the time of writing.

Either way, the sale promises to be the largest ICO seen to date. The pre-sale figure alone tops all other ICOs held by some margin.

The sale represents the first outside investment in Telegram, which has been self-funded by Durov and his older brother Nikolai, who founded VKontakte, the social networking site often referred to as ‘Russia’s Facebook.’ The duo fled Russia in 2014 after a fall-out with investors, who they claim had links to the government, and they later set up Telegram.

Demand around the token sale has been unprecedented, primarily because of Telegram’s unique position within the crypto community. Its messaging app is used by the majority of ICO projects, with its group feature particularly popular among crypto watchers — that includes more shady elements such as ‘pump and dump’ scammers.

Quartz recently reported that pre-sale investors are selling their allocation for upwards of double the price, while others had stayed away from the sale out of caution. There has certainly been hype, with a bevy scammers setting up fake websites and campaigns to cash in on the interest, as TechCrunch wrote last month.

As for the project itself, Telegram is aiming to develop a series of services alongside its messaging app, including:

Distributed file storage akin to services like Dropcoin and ICO company Filecoin
A proxy service for creating decentralized VPN services and TOR-like secure browsing environments based on the blockchain
Services for decentralized apps, smart contracts and decentralized web browsing experiences
Payments for micropayments and peer-to-peer transactions
An early ‘MVP’ version of TON is scheduled for release in Q2 2018 with the Telegram wallet service penciled for the final quarter of the year. Beyond that, its TON services are planned to launch in 2019 but Telegram is still to develop the underlying technology that it claims will enable them.

Despite that, it has been busy shipping new products this year.

Earlier this month, Telegram introduced new versions of its messaging apps for Android and iOS, although its apps were briefly removed for download by Apple after some users were found to be sharing child pornography on them. The company also released a web plug-in allowing businesses to connect with users via the messaging app.

Comments

The 7 Best Mockup Tools for App Entrepreneurs

The 7 Best Mockup Tools for App Entrepreneurs When you want to create the greatest possible mobile app that you can build, you likely already realize that you’ll need a strong foundation to start with. Building an exceptional mobile app isn’t so different from crafting a luxury home in this respect. It all begins with the blueprint, base and groundwork. In the case of mobile, you’ll need a strong and durable mockup before you even consider putting your development team to work. Thankfully, app entrepreneurs have been gifted with an abundance of options to choose from when it comes to selecting a top-quality mockup tool to use. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with performing your initial mockups on paper. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There’s even something special about telling a friend your spontaneous new app idea, while immediately sketching out its wireframe on notebook paper. But, we’ve put together a list of The 7 Best Mockup Tools for App Entrepren...

How ad-free subscriptions could solve Facebook

At the core of Facebook’s “well-being” problem is that its business is directly coupled with total time spent on its apps. The more hours you pass on the social network, the more ads you see and click, the more money it earns. That puts its plan to make using Facebook healthier at odds with its finances, restricting how far it’s willing to go to protect us from the harms of over use. The advertising-supported model comes with some big benefits, though. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said that “We will always keep Facebook a free service for everyone.” Ads lets Facebook remain free for those who don’t want to pay, and more importantly, for those around the world who couldn’t afford to. Ads pay for Facebook to keep the lights on, research and develop new technologies, and profit handsomely in a way that attracts top talent and further investment. More affluent users with more buying power in markets like the US, UK, and Canada command higher ad prices, effectively...

eGym raises $45M Series C for cloud-connected gym equipment and fitness software

eGym , the Munich-based startup that offers cloud-connected gym equipment and supporting cloud software and app for the fitness training floor, has closed $45 million in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor HPE Growth Capital, while existing investors, including Highland Europe, also participated. The problem that eGym is looking to solve is that, whilst gyms have moved from a bodybuilder market to a mass market in the last 20 years, the technology in gyms lags behind. That’s despite the fact that better use of technology can help to reduce customer churn, the biggest pain-point of both gym operator and gym users. Comprising of an app for both gym user and trainer, combined with the company’s connected strength machines, the eGym Cloud makes it possible for gym members to receive better fitness instruction and an evolving and personalised fitness plan based on data collected as they workout. And by providing a better workout feedback loop, gym goers can get an i...

NVBOTS Wants To Make 3D Printers As Easy As Toasters

Right now 3D printing curriculums, if they exist, are fairly sparse. Putting a two thousand dollar machine in front of a grade schooler usually ends up in a lot of 3D printed Yoda heads and not much education while the learning curve for most 3D design tools is steep. That’s what the founders of NVBOTS, AJ Perez, Forrest Pieper, Christopher Haid, and Mateo Peña Doll, are looking to solve. Their product, the NVPRO , is a 3D printer with a few interesting features. The two most interesting are the automatic removal system which pops parts off of the build plate when they are done and a built-in print server that allows you to print from any device. This means you can run large batches of prints from different users with each part popping off as its printed. This means a class of students can send jobs to a printer and then pick them up just as they would a laser printer. The printer also supports a central “admin” who can check jobs before they are printed as and offers a ...

Windows 10 for phones will be released on this Friday

Microsoft's head of the Windows Insider program, Gabe Aul, has announced today on Windows Weekly that they will release a new build of Windows 10 for phones on Friday at 10 AM PT. Windows 10 release date A few weeks back, the company announced a new list of supported devices for the next release but for the version that will be released on Friday, the Lumia Icon and Lumia 930 will not be supported. Gabe said during the announcement that it came down to the new UI being too small on these devices and as such, will not be included in this release. List of supported devices Lumia 1020 Lumia 1320 Lumia 1520 Lumia 520 Lumia 525 Lumia 526 Lumia 530 Lumia 530 Dual Sim Lumia 535 Lumia 620 Lumia 625 Lumia 630 Lumia 630 Dual Sim Lumia 635 Lumia 636 Lumia 638 Lumia 720 Lumia 730 Lumia 730 Dual SIM Lumia 735 Lumia 810 Lumia 820 Lumia 822 Lumia 830 Lumia 920 Lumia 925 Lumia 928 Lumia ICON Microsoft Lumia 430 Microsoft Lumia 435 Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual ...

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog