A consortium of Western funds has offered to invest in the messaging service, however, Pavel Durov has declined the offer.
The Bell has reported referring to several sources that the proposal was presented in early January. It offered to buy a 5-10% stake in Telegram, based on a company valuation of $30B.
This is the first known external evaluation of Telegram in recent years. Durov himself said back in 2015 the company was worth about $3-4B, including reference to proposals received. At that time, the number of monthly active Telegram users was around 60 million; now it is over 500 million.
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The Information recently reported Durov is conducting private negotiations with investors to raise funds that would be converted into shares during a possible IPO of the company. According to one of the publication's sources, this amounts to $1B, but plans may change.
Other media have also reported Telegram has been exploring opportunities to attract financing for several months, however, now that April, which is the date when Durov must pay investors, is closer, the sense of urgency has increased. In particular, we are talking about collecting several hundred million dollars through debt instruments that would later be converted into shares during the company's possible IPO.
Durov has partially denied the publication, however, he has noted his team has received offers from financial organizations to provide a loan to Telegram.