Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov said on his channel today that the company secured $330 million in investment through a bond sale last week.
Durov said the offering was oversubscribed on favorable terms for the company.
“This bond offering has been highly subscribed and we are pleased to have included a top-tier global fund with an impeccable reputation as a participant. ) was the most favorable for Telegram in our history,” he said on his channel.
Although he did not name the institutions that invested in the platform, he said global financial institutions have appreciated the company's growth.
Durov said in an interview with the Financial Times last week that the company aims to be profitable next year. He also noted that Telegram is considering options for going public.
“The main reason we started monetizing was because we wanted to maintain our independence. Generally speaking, what we see as value is: [an IPO] “as a way to democratize access to Telegram's value,” he told the FT.
John Hyman, Telegram's chief investment advisor, told TechCrunch that the current bond yield is 7.7%. The bonds mature in 2026 or when Telegram goes public, whichever comes first.
The chat app, which has more than 900 million users, issued $210 million worth of bonds last year. The Dubai-based company has been introducing new ways to make money in recent years, including advertising, selling usernames on the blockchain, and premium subscriptions. The company announced earlier this month that individual users can convert their accounts to business accounts by paying a subscription fee.