騰訊5000萬美元投資西方版微信
Tencent has invested $50m in Kik, the teen-focused chat app which aspires to be the ‘WeChat of the west’, valuing the Canadian start-up at over $1bn.
騰訊(Tencent)向以青少年爲目標用戶的聊天應用Kik投資5000萬美元，使這家加拿大初創企業的估值超過10億美元。Kik的目標是成爲“西方的微信(WeChat)”。
The Chinese internet group, which owns WeChat, is betting that Kik could replicate its own success in developing chat apps into a platform that incorporates everything from ecommerce to banking in the US.
微信是騰訊的旗下產品，這家中國互聯網集團正押注Kik能在美國複製微信的成功，把聊天應用發展爲一個覆蓋從電子商務到銀行業務等衆多領域的平臺。
Kik raised funds from venture capitalists including Union Square Ventures, which backed Twitter, 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在內的風投機構獲得了融資。合廣投資曾投資Twitter，而SV Angel則是Pinterest等衆多社交應用的投資方。
But it had hired advisers to explore more strategic investments, including, it was reported, a possible sale.
但是，Kik也聘請了諮詢機構來探索更多的戰略性投資，據報道，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 its wish list of potential partners. He is looking forward to bouncing ideas off Tencent as he develops more services for Kik.
Kik總部位於安大略，其首席執行官特德利文斯頓(Ted Livingston)稱，騰訊一直排在Kik潛在合作伙伴願望清單的第一位。他期待在爲Kik開發更多服務時與騰訊方面探討想法。
The teen-focused app allows people to watch YouTube videos within chat and have conversations with ‘marketing bots’ programmed to give both helpful and funny answers.
這個專注於青少年的應用軟件允許人們在聊天過程中觀看YouTube視頻、以及與“marketing bots”程序進行對話。“marketing bots”是一個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 are still forming their shopping habits.
然而，利文斯頓希望擴展至其他面向青少年羣體的服務，這個羣體仍然處於購物習慣的形成期。
“For all these youths coming online for the first time it is an opportunity for ecommerce sites and financial institutions to build something amazing just for them, in a place they are spending all their time anyway,” he said.
他表示：“就剛開始上網的少年人而言，這是電子商務網站和金融機構專門針對他們打造一些超棒服務的好機會，畢竟他們總是掛在這個平臺上。”
Some 70 per cent of Kik’s 240m registered users are aged between 13 and 24, with the company estimating that about 40 per cent of US teens use Kik.
Kik擁有2.4億註冊用戶，其中70%的人年齡在13至24歲之間，該公司估計美國約40%的青少年都使用Kik。
Tencent’s WeChat and Weixin, both similar chat apps, boasted 600m monthly active users last quarter, up 37 per cent year on year. But the vast majority of these users are based in China and the company does not yet have a foothold in the US.
騰訊旗下的微信和微信國際版是類似的聊天軟件，上一季度二者合計擁有6億月度活躍用戶，同比增加37%。但其絕大多數的用戶都在中國，騰訊尚未在美國站穩腳跟。
However, Tencent, like Chinese rival Alibaba, has been busy investing in western technology companies. It is widely reported to have invested in Snapchat, the disappearing photo messages app, as well as Whisper, an anonymous messaging app, Cyanogen, a mobile customisation app and Scanadu, a maker of health diagnostics hardware. Alibaba’s VC arm has also invested in Snapchat, as well as messaging app Tango.
然而，就像中國本土競爭對手阿里巴巴(Alibaba)一樣，騰訊也忙於投資西方科技企業。有廣泛報道稱，騰訊投資了閱後即焚照片分享應用Snapchat、匿名通訊軟件Whisper、手機系統定製應用Cyanogen以及健康診斷設備製造商Scanadu。阿里巴巴的風投部門也投資了Snapchat以及通訊軟件Tango。
Mr Livingston said many western social apps did not understand the value of chat as a platform for other services. But he said Facebook had showed it did understand when it hired David Marcus, former chief executive of PayPal, to lead its work on messaging. Facebook has since begun integrating payments and conversations with retailers into the Facebook Messenger app.
利文斯頓稱，西方很多社交軟件並不理解聊天應用作爲其他服務的平臺的價值。但他稱，Facebook聘請了PayPal前首席執行官戴維氠鎚斯(David Marcus)來領導通訊方面的工作，這表明它理解了這一平臺的價值。從那之後，Facebook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 you are a retailer going after adults you will use Facebook Messenger but every study out there shows teenagers don’t like Facebook, they have it but they have it in the same way we all have a driver’s licence,” he said.
然而，利文斯頓稱，Facebook不再是青少年所青睞的平臺。“如果你是以成年人爲目標的零售商，你會使用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。
