Earlier This Year, Telegram Successfully Exceeded 800 Million Monthly Active Users

Telegram past 800 million monthly active users (photo: Telegram)

JAKARTA - Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that by early 2023, his messaging app Telegram had exceeded 800 million monthly active users.

In a message sent via his Telegram channel, Durov also said that there are more than 2.5 million new users registering for Telegram every day.

"We are pleased and grateful, although this huge growth also means higher spending on storage and traffic to serve our users," Durov wrote a few days ago.

Not only that, but Telegram boss also conveyed his achievements related to platform monetization by raising 210 million US dollars (IDR 3.15 trillion) through the sale of bonds this week from a number of investors.

"Fortunately, Telegram is very efficient in terms of spend and we had a good start with monetization last year. While not yet profitable, Telegram is closer to profitability in absolute numbers than its competitors such as Twitter and Snap," he added.

To fund Telegram's continued growth to break even, this week Durov increased Telegram's bonds worth around $270 million (IDR 4.05 trillion).

Privately, Durov said he bought about a quarter of new Telegram bonds, and invested tens of millions into Telegram's growth. Over the last 10 years, says Durov, he has spent hundreds of millions on the app to keep it running.

For a company headquartered in Dubai, improving finances and becoming self-sufficient is an even bigger challenge, according to Durov. Telegram, which has started its monetization engine in recent years, and to break even with what is issued is quite difficult.

Telegram has even attempted a token sale (which was blocked by the SEC), but persistently weak global market conditions mean that the company itself must continue to rely on private investors to finance its operations.