Trusted by users for its rigid privacy features, tech startup Telegram is impressively growing with 12 billion messages delivered daily, up from two billion back in May and one billion in February.
While boasting of Telegram's explosive success at TechCrunch Disrupt, CEO Pavel Durov was unable to keep himself from dissing the messaging app industry's current market leader WhatsApp during the conference.
"If you have WhatsApp and your phone goes down, you don't have access to your messages," Durov said.
He also pointed that WhatsApp users cannot send documents and the app does not have the privacy features Telegram offers.
While the Facebook-owned messenger tops the industry with more than 900 million monthly active users, Telegram is aggressively climbing with over 60 million monthly active users in May.
Durov caused excitement when he disclosed that Telegram will soon be offered as a payment API, an innovation that will put the messaging service on the same level as Facebook Messenger. Telegram will collaborate with third-party providers to come up with a savvy and reliable money service. The system will be comparable to Play Store.
Durov was asked regarding Telegram's much-lauded strict privacy policy. Admitting that ISIS is using his service, Durov shared his views on privacy.
Durov believes in the importance of civil liberty. While he acknowledged that there is a gruesome phenomenon going on and people fear terrorism, he also explained that he is doing the right thing by protecting the privacy of people.
Happy with his independence, Durov does not feel the need for outside funding. Telegram has been up and running for two years without the help of angel investors. The company appears to have been financed by the money Durov earned by selling his shares in the Russian social networking site VKontakte. It was reported that Durov's stake was worth $300 million, although he never confirmed it.
