Kik Interactive, the Canadian creator of the chat platform Kik, has announced that it will look to raise a total of $125 million through a token sale starting September 12th. Kik also closed a presale round of $50 million to select accredited investors, including Blockchain Capital, Pantera Capital, and Polychain Capital.
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Kik Messenger has over 300 million registered users, and is mostly popular with teenagers. It is known for features that preserve user anonymity, such as allowing registration without a telephone number. Founded in 2009, Kik Interactive has previously raised over $100 million in venture capital funding over the years, giving it a valuation of more than $1 billion. This makes it the largest mainstream company to ever launch an ICO.
Ted Livingston, founder and CEO of Kik Interactive, talked with Finance Magnates about the ICO before the exact date and target were revealed. Watch the interview here:
“We’re one step closer to launching Kin and integrating it into Kik, which will be the first mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency,” said Livingston. “Kin will fuel new experiences in communications, information, and commerce inside of Kik, and will also serve as a foundation for a new decentralized ecosystem of digital services, bringing a fair and sustainable business model to the market.”
Kik is creating Kin as an ERC20 token on the Ethereum blockchain that will be integrated into Kik as the primary transaction currency. Kin will create a decentralized ecosystem of digital services through the Kin Rewards Engine, a cryptoeconomic structure intended to promote the use of Kin as a common currency, that will be administered by the Kin Foundation.
“Kik is by far the largest consumer company to enter the cryptocurrency space, and this is a seminal moment for the industry,” said Ryan Zurrer, principal and venture partner at leading cryptocurrency hedge fund Polychain Capital. “We have been impressed with Kik’s thoughtful approach to the creation and distribution of Kin, and have confidence that the team will execute their vision of creating a decentralized ecosystem of digital services through Kin.”
