Kik Secures $19.5 Million in Series B Funding Led by Foundation Capital, to Build the Kik Platform Around Its 50 Million Users

Today Kik Interactive, makers of the fastest, simplest and most personal way to communicate one-to-one on mobile, has closed $19.5 million in Series B funding to support continued platform development and drive the company towards monetization. The round is led by Foundation Capital, with participation from original investors RRE Ventures, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. Kik is also announcing the addition of Anamitra Banerji, partner at Foundation Capital, to its board of directors.
 
Foundation Capital – investors in high growth ventures such as Netflix, LendingClub, Chegg, MobileIron and Pocket – is excited to partner with Kik. Banerji joins the board to help guide and support Kik’s exponential growth and continued innovation. He brings with him his vast experience as Twitter’s 30th employee and first Product Manager, where he spearheaded the creation of promoted tweets, promoted trends and promoted accounts.
 
Kik’s smartphone messaging platform seamlessly integrates HTML5 apps called Cards. The integration of the native Kik Messenger app with the Web-based Cards layer allows the company to quickly create and deploy cross-platform apps. Cards also make it super simple for users to instantly add and share fun and diverse experiences without installing anything new and without leaving the app.
 
Seeing tremendous growth, Kik recently surpassed 50 million users and is adding 200,000 new users per day. Cards are seeing excellent traction as well, with over 25 million Cards downloaded since the new feature launched in November 2012.
 
“This is an extremely exciting time for Kik. We’re seeing our user base grow like crazy as we continue building out what we believe is the best one-to-one messaging experience on mobile,” said Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik. “The new funding will strengthen our development efforts as we begin to leverage Cards as one of our routes towards monetization.”
 
“Messaging is core to the mobile experience, and Kik is changing the way people - especially the ’born-mobile’ generation - connect with each other and the apps they love,” said Banerji. “There are similarities between Kik and Twitter when it comes to growth, engagement and vision. We are excited to help Kik bring its fast, simple and rich experience to every mobile user around the world.”
 
Download Kik at www.kik.com
 
About Kik
 
Kik Interactive is all about sharing and connecting. Kik Messenger is a smartphone messenger that seamlessly integrates HTML5 apps. Kik was first created by a team of students at the University of Waterloo and was launched in October 2010 to unprecedented success. Today over 50 million people around the world are enjoying Kik Messenger. Kik Interactive is based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
 
About Foundation Capital
At Foundation Capital, we’re dedicated to the proposition that one entrepreneur’s idea, with the right support, can become a business that changes the world. We helped Atheros create the mobile Internet, EnerNOC invent the energy demand response market, and Netflix revolutionize media distribution and consumption, among many others. We’re currently invested in more than 80 high-growth ventures in the areas of consumer, information technology, software, semiconductors, and clean technology including BoardVantage, Chegg, Coverity, Lending Club, MobileIron, Simply Hired, Sunrun, TubeMogul and Venafi. Foundation Capital’s eighteen initial public offerings include Envestnet, Financial Engines, Netflix, NetZero, Responsys and Silver Spring Networks. For more information, please visit www.foundationcapital.com
 
About RRE Ventures
RRE Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in New York City with over $1 Billion under management. Since our founding in 1994 we have sought out and partnered with extraordinary entrepreneurs who seek to disrupt and transform industries including finance, media, communications, retail and advertising. For more about RRE Ventures, visit www.rre.com
 
About Spark Capital
Founded in 2005, Spark Capital is a tight-knit group of partners managing approximately $1.5 billion across four funds. Spark invests across a number of key market segments including: advertising & monetization, commerce & services, cloud & infrastructure, social, mobile and content. Spark’s portfolio includes companies such as Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, AdMeld, OMGPOP, ThePlatform and 5Min. The Spark team has previously backed notable companies such as Akamai Technologies, Qtera, Aether Systems and Novatel Wireless.
www.sparkcapital.com
 
About Union Square Ventures
Union Square Ventures (USV) is an early stage venture capital fund located in New York City with a focus on disruptive Internet businesses. USV looks to back passionate entrepreneurs in building highly scalable services that deliver significant value to participants. USV investments include Etsy, Foursquare, Indeed and Twitter. More about USV at  http://usv.com  

Contact Information

Christina Shatzen

Account Manager

VSCpr for Kik Interactive

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