A consortium of Western funds proposed investing in the Telegram messenger, but Pavel Durov rejected the offer. Reported by The Bell, citing sources close to the entrepreneur.
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According to them, the offer came in early January 2021.
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It involved buying 5–10% of the company, based on a valuation of $30 billion.
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This is the first external valuation of Telegram in years that has come to light. In 2015, Pavel Durov valued the company’s potential worth at $3–4 billion, citing offers he had received at the time. At that time, Telegram’s active monthly users were about 60 million; today they exceed 500 million.
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Earlier, The Information reported private talks between Telegram founder Pavel Durov and banks and investors. The discussions allegedly concerned about raising $1 billion via the issuance of convertible bonds and an IPO.
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Durov later partly refuted this information, confirming only that the Telegram team had indeed received offers from financial institutions for a loan.
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He also described the loan as one of the ways for Telegram to remain fully independent and faithful to its values in pursuing monetisation.
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