Kik獲騰訊投資 立志做西方的微信 Kik Raises $50 Million From Tencent

SAN FRANCISCO — Kik has long aspired to become the Western world’s equivalent of WeChat, the hugely popular Chinese messaging app that lets users book taxis, send payments — and also talk with their friends.

舊金山——很長時間裡，加拿大移動應用Kik一直渴望成為西方世界的微信，後者是一個在中國十分受歡迎的通訊app，使用者可以用它預定出租車、付款，也可以和朋友聊天。

Now Kik has secured an investment from WeChat’s parent company.

現在，Kik獲得了微信母公司的投資。

The service announced on Tuesday that it had collected $50 million in new capital from Tencent, the Chinese Internet giant that created WeChat four years ago.

週二，Kik宣佈獲得中國網際網路巨頭騰訊公司5000萬美元的投資，後者在四年前推出了微信。

The investment values Kik at $1 billion.

這筆投資使Kik的估值達到了10億美元。

“We said we wanted to be the WeChat of the West,” Ted Livingston, Kik’s founder and chief executive, said in an interview. “To have WeChat come in and say, ‘Yep, we think you can do it,’ is very satisfying.”

“之前我們說過，我們想成為西方的微信，”Kik創始人兼CEO泰德·利文斯頓(Ted Livingston)在接受採訪時說。“現在騰訊給我們投了錢，還說‘沒錯，我們覺得你們能成，’這還挺讓人開心的。”

The move is the latest by a major Western messaging service in the hopes of growing to become the next big Internet force. Companies like Kik, Viber and Tango have sought to ride the wave of popularity that propelled WhatsApp to a $21.8 billion sale to Facebook and buoyed the valuation of Snapchat to $15 billion.

這是各家西方主流的通訊app，為了成為下一個網際網路大角色所採取的最新舉措。在最近一波網際網路熱潮中，WhatsApp以218億美元價格被Facebook收購，Snapchat的估值被推高到150億美元，Kik、Viber和Tango等公司也試圖藉機實現飛躍。

Among those messaging apps, Kik has been the most vocal about becoming the kind of Internet hub that WeChat has evolved into in China. Founded in January 2011, WeChat now lets users send image-laden messages, play games and buy plane tickets.

在所有這些通訊app中，Kik最為積極地表示，想要成為微信在中國所演變成的那種網際網路樞紐的角色。於2011年1月推出的微信，現在可以讓使用者傳送包含圖片的資訊，玩遊戲和買機票。

To Mr. Livingston, that has meant, in part, catching younger users. Kik now claims that 40 percent of American teenagers use its app, and that 70 percent of its 240 million registered users are between 13 and 24 years old.

對利文斯頓來說，那在一定程度上意味著吸引更年輕的使用者。Kik表示，現在有40%的美國年輕人使用其app，而且在全部2.4億名註冊使用者中，有70%是13歲至24歲的年輕人。

Getting users early on means that they will be more comfortable using a service like Kik as a way to not only send messages, but also use add-on services. Already, the company has introduced new offerings like messages built on GIFs, the increasingly prolific animated images that now litter the Web.

吸引年輕使用者意味著，他們更有可能不僅將Kik這樣的app用來發資訊，還樂於使用它提供的各種附加服務。Kik已經提供了一些新功能，比如傳送包含GIF圖片的資訊，這種動態圖片如今在網路上隨處可見。

It’s a similar approach, Mr. Livingston said, to how WeChat served as a gateway for many first-time Chinese Internet users — and then added more and more features to keep those people coming back.

利文斯頓表示，這種策略和微信採用的方式類似。微信充當了很多上網新手的入門應用，之後它推出了越來越多的功能，以保持使用者粘性。

Though Kik and WeChat have known each other for some time, the investment grew out of a strategic review process that the Western app began in the spring with the help of Qatalyst Partners, the Silicon Valley boutique investment bank. Kik also weighed other options, including a sale of itself, but it favored an investment. Taking money from a like-minded Chinese counterpart simply made sense, according to Mr. Livingston.

儘管Kik和微信相互瞭解已經有一段時間，但是這一融資決定是在Kik進行了戰略評估之後做出的。該項評估是在矽谷精品投行Qatalyst Partners幫助下，從今年春天開始進行的。Kik也對其他選擇進行了權衡，其中包括出售，但最終它更傾向於融資。利文斯頓表示，從一家思路相近的中國公司獲得融資，讓人感覺比較合理。

With the new money, Kik will focus on growing and adding new offerings for its app, Mr. Livingston said. It also will help the company build revenue, which it has started collecting through initiatives like Kik Points, where users can garner rewards by visiting sites, taking surveys or joining services from partners.

利文斯頓表示，新資金到位後，將主要用於為app開發新功能，這也將有助於公司增加營收。通過之前推出的Kik Points，該公司已經開始有營收進賬。在Kik Points系統裡，使用者可以通過訪問網站、填寫調查問卷或下載安裝合作app而獲得獎勵。