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An Israeli entrepreneur thinks ‘Kik is not doing great today’ but invested in its $50 million ICO presale anyway

Israeli entrepreneur and investor Moshe Hogeg invested in messaging app Kik ahead of its $US125 million (£97 million) initial coin offering — despite thinking the messaging app is “not doing great today.”

Hogeg, best known as a cofounder of Yo! and a host of other startups, told Business Insider he took part in Kik’s $US50 million (£39 million) token presale, where investors were given a chance to buy the messaging app’s new digital currency “Kin” before the general public.

Kik is a Canadian messaging app targeted at teens. Its CEO Ted Livingstone admitted late last year that it had stopped growing in the face of competition from Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and Snapchat. In its ICO documents, Kik said it had 15 million active users — a fraction of its 300 million reported registered users.

Given Kik hasn’t raised venture money since 2015, what’s to say its ICO isn’t a last-ditch effort to raise funding from more ignorant investors?

 

Read the full article by Shona Ghosh at Business Insider Australia.