Pavel Durov, owner of Dubai-based Telegram, the secretive messaging app has over 900 million users, up from 500 million users in 2021 says  Telegram had grown to become one of the world’s most popular social media apps while making hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue after introducing advertising and premium services two years ago. The company is moving closer to a potential stock market listing.

Russian-born founder Mr. Durov said “We are hoping to become profitable next year, if not this year”. The group had been offered $30bn-plus valuations from potential investors including global late stage tech funds but ruled out selling while it explored a listing. Mr Durov further said “ The main reason why we stated to monetize is because we wanted to remain independent, generally speaking , we see value in an IPO as a means to democratize access to Telegram’s value”. The company has 50 full time employees and in the past few years have become a vital communication tool for governments and officials  globally, as well as a lifeline for to citizens in conflict zones.  It was home to freewheeling cryptocurrency community.  But researchers warn  that the lightly moderate platform remains a hotbed for criminal activity, as well as extremist or terrorist content and misinformation.

Durov was hailed as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia” after co-founding the country’s most popular social media network, VKontakte. In his native St. Petersburg in 2007.  He founded Telegram in 2013, with his brother, and fled Russia a year later after refusing to share data of Ukrainian users with Russia’s security agency. Durov said he sold his shares in VK to Kremlin-friendly oligarchs for 300 million under duress. Messaging rival WhatsApp owned by Meta has 1.8 billion monthly active users, while encrypted app signal has 30 million users.