騰訊5000萬美元投資西方版微信
Tencent has invested $50m in Kik, the teen-focusedchat app which aspires to be the ‘WeChat of thewest’, valuing the Canadian start-up at over $1bn.
騰訊(Tencent)向以青少年為目標(biāo)用戶的聊天應(yīng)用Kik投資5000萬美元，使這家加拿大初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的估值超過10億美元。Kik的目標(biāo)是成為“西方的微信(WeChat)。
The Chinese internet group, which owns WeChat, is betting that Kik could replicate its ownsuccess in developing chat apps into a platform that incorporates everything from ecommerceto banking in the US.
微信是騰訊的旗下產(chǎn)品，這家中國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)集團(tuán)正押注Kik能在美國(guó)復(fù)制微信的成功，把聊天應(yīng)用發(fā)展為一個(gè)覆蓋從電子商務(wù)到銀行業(yè)務(wù)等眾多領(lǐng)域的平臺(tái)。
Kik raised funds from venture capitalists including Union Square Ventures, which backedTwitter, and SV Angel, an investor in many social apps including Pinterest, last November.
去年11月，Kik從包括合廣投資(Union Square Ventures)和SV Angel在內(nèi)的風(fēng)投機(jī)構(gòu)獲得了融資。合廣投資曾投資Twitter，而SV Angel則是Pinterest等眾多社交應(yīng)用的投資方。
But it had hired advisers to explore more strategic investments, including, it was reported, apossible sale.
但是，Kik也聘請(qǐng)了咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)來探索更多的戰(zhàn)略性投資，據(jù)報(bào)道，其中包括將自身出售的可能性。
Ted Livingston, chief executive of Ontario-based Kik, said Tencent was always at the top of itswish list of potential partners. He is looking forward to bouncing ideas off Tencent as hedevelops more services for Kik.
Kik總部位于安大略，其首席執(zhí)行官特德利文斯頓(Ted Livingston)稱，騰訊一直排在Kik潛在合作伙伴愿望清單的第一位。他期待在為Kik開發(fā)更多服務(wù)時(shí)與騰訊方面探討想法。
The teen-focused app allows people to watch YouTube videos within chat and haveconversations with ‘marketing bots’ programmed to give both helpful and funny answers.
這個(gè)專注于青少年的應(yīng)用軟件允許人們?cè)诹奶爝^程中觀看YouTube視頻、以及與“marketing bots程序進(jìn)行對(duì)話。“marketing bots是一個(gè)提供既有用又好玩的答案的程序。
However, he wants to expand into other services that look to target teenagers while they arestill forming their shopping habits.
然而，利文斯頓希望擴(kuò)展至其他面向青少年群體的服務(wù)，這個(gè)群體仍然處于購物習(xí)慣的形成期。
“For all these youths coming online for the first time it is an opportunity for ecommerce sitesand financial institutions to build something amazing just for them, in a place they are spendingall their time anyway, he said.
他表示：“就剛開始上網(wǎng)的少年人而言，這是電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站和金融機(jī)構(gòu)專門針對(duì)他們打造一些超棒服務(wù)的好機(jī)會(huì)，畢竟他們總是掛在這個(gè)平臺(tái)上。
Some 70 per cent of Kik’s 240m registered users are aged between 13 and 24, with thecompany estimating that about 40 per cent of US teens use Kik.
Kik擁有2.4億注冊(cè)用戶，其中70%的人年齡在13至24歲之間，該公司估計(jì)美國(guó)約40%的青少年都使用Kik。
Tencent’s WeChat and Weixin, both similar chat apps, boasted 600m monthly active users lastquarter, up 37 per cent year on year. But the vast majority of these users are based in Chinaand the company does not yet have a foothold in the US.
騰訊旗下的微信和微信國(guó)際版是類似的聊天軟件，上一季度二者合計(jì)擁有6億月度活躍用戶，同比增加37%。但其絕大多數(shù)的用戶都在中國(guó)，騰訊尚未在美國(guó)站穩(wěn)腳跟。
However, Tencent, like Chinese rival Alibaba, has been busy investing in western technologycompanies. It is widely reported to have invested in Snapchat, the disappearing photomessages app, as well as Whisper, an anonymous messaging app, Cyanogen, a mobilecustomisation app and Scanadu, a maker of health diagnostics hardware. Alibaba’s VC arm hasalso invested in Snapchat, as well as messaging app Tango.
然而，就像中國(guó)本土競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手阿里巴巴(Alibaba)一樣，騰訊也忙于投資西方科技企業(yè)。有廣泛報(bào)道稱，騰訊投資了閱后即焚照片分享應(yīng)用Snapchat、匿名通訊軟件Whisper、手機(jī)系統(tǒng)定制應(yīng)用Cyanogen以及健康診斷設(shè)備制造商Scanadu。阿里巴巴的風(fēng)投部門也投資了Snapchat以及通訊軟件Tango。
Mr Livingston said many western social apps did not understand the value of chat as aplatform for other services. But he said Facebook had showed it did understand when it hiredDavid Marcus, former chief executive of PayPal, to lead its work on messaging. Facebook hassince begun integrating payments and conversations with retailers into the FacebookMessenger app.
利文斯頓稱，西方很多社交軟件并不理解聊天應(yīng)用作為其他服務(wù)的平臺(tái)的價(jià)值。但他稱，F(xiàn)acebook聘請(qǐng)了PayPal前首席執(zhí)行官戴維氠鎚斯(David Marcus)來領(lǐng)導(dǎo)通訊方面的工作，這表明它理解了這一平臺(tái)的價(jià)值。從那之后，F(xiàn)acebook已開始將支付和與零售商交流的功能整合在Facebook Messenger軟件中。
However, Mr Livingston said Facebook was no longer the preferred destination of teens. “If youare a retailer going after adults you will use Facebook Messenger but every study out thereshows teenagers don’t like Facebook, they have it but they have it in the same way we all havea driver’s licence, he said.
然而，利文斯頓稱，F(xiàn)acebook不再是青少年所青睞的平臺(tái)。“如果你是以成年人為目標(biāo)的零售商，你會(huì)使用Facebook Messenger，但是所有研究都表明青少年不喜歡Facebook，他們安裝了該軟件，但是這就像我們所有人都有駕照一樣，他稱。
Tencent has invested $50m in Kik, the teen-focusedchat app which aspires to be the ‘WeChat of thewest’, valuing the Canadian start-up at over $1bn.
騰訊(Tencent)向以青少年為目標(biāo)用戶的聊天應(yīng)用Kik投資5000萬美元，使這家加拿大初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的估值超過10億美元。Kik的目標(biāo)是成為“西方的微信(WeChat)。
The Chinese internet group, which owns WeChat, is betting that Kik could replicate its ownsuccess in developing chat apps into a platform that incorporates everything from ecommerceto banking in the US.
微信是騰訊的旗下產(chǎn)品，這家中國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)集團(tuán)正押注Kik能在美國(guó)復(fù)制微信的成功，把聊天應(yīng)用發(fā)展為一個(gè)覆蓋從電子商務(wù)到銀行業(yè)務(wù)等眾多領(lǐng)域的平臺(tái)。
Kik raised funds from venture capitalists including Union Square Ventures, which backedTwitter, and SV Angel, an investor in many social apps including Pinterest, last November.
去年11月，Kik從包括合廣投資(Union Square Ventures)和SV Angel在內(nèi)的風(fēng)投機(jī)構(gòu)獲得了融資。合廣投資曾投資Twitter，而SV Angel則是Pinterest等眾多社交應(yīng)用的投資方。
But it had hired advisers to explore more strategic investments, including, it was reported, apossible sale.
但是，Kik也聘請(qǐng)了咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)來探索更多的戰(zhàn)略性投資，據(jù)報(bào)道，其中包括將自身出售的可能性。
Ted Livingston, chief executive of Ontario-based Kik, said Tencent was always at the top of itswish list of potential partners. He is looking forward to bouncing ideas off Tencent as hedevelops more services for Kik.
Kik總部位于安大略，其首席執(zhí)行官特德利文斯頓(Ted Livingston)稱，騰訊一直排在Kik潛在合作伙伴愿望清單的第一位。他期待在為Kik開發(fā)更多服務(wù)時(shí)與騰訊方面探討想法。
The teen-focused app allows people to watch YouTube videos within chat and haveconversations with ‘marketing bots’ programmed to give both helpful and funny answers.
這個(gè)專注于青少年的應(yīng)用軟件允許人們?cè)诹奶爝^程中觀看YouTube視頻、以及與“marketing bots程序進(jìn)行對(duì)話。“marketing bots是一個(gè)提供既有用又好玩的答案的程序。
However, he wants to expand into other services that look to target teenagers while they arestill forming their shopping habits.
然而，利文斯頓希望擴(kuò)展至其他面向青少年群體的服務(wù)，這個(gè)群體仍然處于購物習(xí)慣的形成期。
“For all these youths coming online for the first time it is an opportunity for ecommerce sitesand financial institutions to build something amazing just for them, in a place they are spendingall their time anyway, he said.
他表示：“就剛開始上網(wǎng)的少年人而言，這是電子商務(wù)網(wǎng)站和金融機(jī)構(gòu)專門針對(duì)他們打造一些超棒服務(wù)的好機(jī)會(huì)，畢竟他們總是掛在這個(gè)平臺(tái)上。
Some 70 per cent of Kik’s 240m registered users are aged between 13 and 24, with thecompany estimating that about 40 per cent of US teens use Kik.
Kik擁有2.4億注冊(cè)用戶，其中70%的人年齡在13至24歲之間，該公司估計(jì)美國(guó)約40%的青少年都使用Kik。
Tencent’s WeChat and Weixin, both similar chat apps, boasted 600m monthly active users lastquarter, up 37 per cent year on year. But the vast majority of these users are based in Chinaand the company does not yet have a foothold in the US.
騰訊旗下的微信和微信國(guó)際版是類似的聊天軟件，上一季度二者合計(jì)擁有6億月度活躍用戶，同比增加37%。但其絕大多數(shù)的用戶都在中國(guó)，騰訊尚未在美國(guó)站穩(wěn)腳跟。
However, Tencent, like Chinese rival Alibaba, has been busy investing in western technologycompanies. It is widely reported to have invested in Snapchat, the disappearing photomessages app, as well as Whisper, an anonymous messaging app, Cyanogen, a mobilecustomisation app and Scanadu, a maker of health diagnostics hardware. Alibaba’s VC arm hasalso invested in Snapchat, as well as messaging app Tango.
然而，就像中國(guó)本土競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手阿里巴巴(Alibaba)一樣，騰訊也忙于投資西方科技企業(yè)。有廣泛報(bào)道稱，騰訊投資了閱后即焚照片分享應(yīng)用Snapchat、匿名通訊軟件Whisper、手機(jī)系統(tǒng)定制應(yīng)用Cyanogen以及健康診斷設(shè)備制造商Scanadu。阿里巴巴的風(fēng)投部門也投資了Snapchat以及通訊軟件Tango。
Mr Livingston said many western social apps did not understand the value of chat as aplatform for other services. But he said Facebook had showed it did understand when it hiredDavid Marcus, former chief executive of PayPal, to lead its work on messaging. Facebook hassince begun integrating payments and conversations with retailers into the FacebookMessenger app.
利文斯頓稱，西方很多社交軟件并不理解聊天應(yīng)用作為其他服務(wù)的平臺(tái)的價(jià)值。但他稱，F(xiàn)acebook聘請(qǐng)了PayPal前首席執(zhí)行官戴維氠鎚斯(David Marcus)來領(lǐng)導(dǎo)通訊方面的工作，這表明它理解了這一平臺(tái)的價(jià)值。從那之后，F(xiàn)acebook已開始將支付和與零售商交流的功能整合在Facebook Messenger軟件中。
However, Mr Livingston said Facebook was no longer the preferred destination of teens. “If youare a retailer going after adults you will use Facebook Messenger but every study out thereshows teenagers don’t like Facebook, they have it but they have it in the same way we all havea driver’s licence, he said.
然而，利文斯頓稱，F(xiàn)acebook不再是青少年所青睞的平臺(tái)。“如果你是以成年人為目標(biāo)的零售商，你會(huì)使用Facebook Messenger，但是所有研究都表明青少年不喜歡Facebook，他們安裝了該軟件，但是這就像我們所有人都有駕照一樣，他稱。
