Messaging App Kik Raises $50M as it Readies its ICO

Mobile messaging app Kik has raised $50 million as it eyes a $75-million coin offering, CoinDesk reports.

The money was raised through the private sale of its own ethereum token - called Kin - to institutional investors, including Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital and Pantera Capital, according to CoinDesk. With the private sale completed, Kik now plans a "token distribution event" by "targeting an additional $75 million by selling 1 trillion of a total of 10 trillion units to be created."

Kik's fundraising efforts will raise a projected $125 million in additional capital for the company, CoinDesk reports.

Because the Kin token is based on ethereum's ERC-20 standard, it will be possible for exchanges to list the token for trading, and in turn, ultimately redeem them for U.S. dollars.

Tanner Philp, a manager of special initiatives at Kik, told CoinDesk the company's goal is for Kin to become a general purpose cryptocurrency, which could be used as a method of value exchange between such stakeholders as users, developers and content creators.

CoinDesk notes that with 15 million monthly active users, Kik's development of Kin could place it as "the first mainstream adoption of a custom cryptocurrency by a well-known company." However, some analysts aren't sold that Kik will succeed with its custom cryptocurrency, pointing to Facebook's failed efforts with a similar program.

However, if the company is successful in its fundraising efforts, "it would make Kik one of the highest-charting ICOs," according to CoinDesk.

Photo: Kik