Tencent [SEP] parent company
was provided to it by venture capitalists. In February 1999, Tencent's messenger product OICQ released. Shortly after, Tencent had its name changed to QQ; this was said to be due to a lawsuit threat from ICQ and its owner AOL. The company remained unprofitable for the first three years.
South African media company Naspers purchased a 46.5% share of Tencent in 2001. (As of 2014, it owns 34%.) Tencent Holding Ltd was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 16 June 2004,
50 million investment from Chinese Internet giant Tencent, the parent company of the popular Chinese messaging service WeChat. The investment earned the company a billion dollar valuation. Company CEO Ted Livingston stated Kik's aspirations to become "the WeChat of the West" and said that attracting younger users was an important part of the company's strategy.
In 2017 Kik decided against more VC funding, instead raising nearly $100M in a high-profile initial coin offering (ICO) on the Ethereum blockchain. In this crowd sale,