Kik 相比较 Facebook Messenger 和 Whatsapp 的优势是什么？为什么可以获得风投的 4000 万美元的 C 轮融资？

第1 问：Kik 相比较Facebook Messenger 和Whatsapp 的优势是什么？

—用户群体：

Kik所针对的群体是对 隐私要求较高的人群 ，用户 不需要用手机号或其他隐私资料来注册 （FBM和Wtsapp则需要），因此在这个群体中Kik相当受欢迎，comScore的报告指出六月份美国的18-24岁群体平均使用2.5%的App时间在Kik上（高于FBM但低于Snapchat）。

Wtsapp只是一个免费发短信/图片的工具，而相对地，Kik主打的是 跨平台聊天 ——你可以跟朋友聊天、在手机游戏里用Kik聊天、在购物APP里用Kik与朋友分享等等，人们会分享自己的Kik用户名，为他们在各种服务之间的联系提供便利，这些服务包括社交应用、游戏应用和健康应用等，这个是Wtsapp做不到的。除了Kik，目前其他的社交APP都往 服务差异化 的路上走——在KakaoTalk上，可以出售数字产品；在Line上面，可以制作和销售自己的贴纸；在微信，可以支付打车费、购物，而这些是Wtsapp目前做不到的。

—盈利模式（相对于Wtsapp）：

今年年初Kik开始在其聊天中 “植入广告” ，推出植入 品牌的“聊天机器人” （功能是给用户讲笑话和问答），对每一个调戏机器人的用户，Kik会向广告商收0.2美元的广告费。聊天机器人将“品牌”这个原本死的东西变成聊天对象直接与用户对话，是广告业的一种新形式，这种“聊天广告”在开始到现在创下了很好的成绩，推出的第一周，一个项目有150万用户参与，每天可以得到180万条消息。

例：Skullcandy举办了一个饥饿游戏首映礼抢票活动，用户需要回答一系列聊天机器人问的关于电影的问题才能成功抢票，3个月内参与抢票的用户数达307000，是其在Twitter上5年内关注者的3倍。

这个盈利方式的要点在于不让用户觉得广告烦躁及侵犯个人权利，在这点上Kik拿捏的很好，因此带来很大的商机。

另一方面，Wtsapp从来不投放广告——两者都以不让用户讨厌为Top priority， Wtsapp 选择放弃广告，而Kik 则选择创新。

—线上模式（相对于FBM）：

有了FBM，你可以联系那些不在电脑旁的FB好友，但始终存在线下这一障碍，它的PC端仍然继续存在，Facebook 在PC端会阻碍它在移动端的步伐；而Kik相对于FBM的优势在于，社区与手机联系在一起，这就不存在线下的事情，只有线上，而且始终是在线上。类似的可以想想有了手机QQ我们为什么还需要微信。

第2 问：为什么可以获得风投的4000 万美元的C 轮融资？

—估值：

VC的估值很多时较粗糙，一般会高于上一轮的估值。风投并不会把重点放在这个APP到底值多少钱上，因为现金流根本不能准确预测，更多的是考虑这个团队到底需要多少钱，拿来干嘛，是不是用的合适。所以应该是Kik说自己的资金缺口是4000万，然后来商量一下4000万到底能占多少股权。

Wtsapp用户量超4.5亿，日活跃用户比例为70%，按190亿美元的估值计算，每个活跃用户的价值约为42美元。Kik注册用户为1.85亿，假设日活跃用户为50%，每个活跃用户价值30美元，估值为1.85*50%*30=27.75亿美元，融个4000万一点不过分（不过不知道到底占多少股权）。

本人学生，个人拙见，不同意随便骂。

—抢占手机社交APP市场：

社交APP市场自从FB 190亿收购Wtsapp后就很躁动，投资机构觉得在战略上社交APP是兵家必争之地，因此受欢迎、有特色的社交APP受到资本市场的青睐（参考微信，多大的一块市场，提供很多实体业务的接口），尤其是对于亚洲的投资机构，要抢占西方的社交APP市场，最有效率、有效的办法无疑是投一个现成的。看，那儿有块熟肉，你们抢吧，价格自然就上去了。

—盈利模式：

同第1问。

—想象空间：

l 支付功能

最近FBM准备引入支付功能，而Snapchat已推出了Snapcash，很多投资者都期待着Kik能切入移动支付领域，不过具体以何种方式进入仍然未知，不过这一想象空间已是相当值钱。

l 虚拟货币

Kik在大力推动自身的货币化，开放了Promoted Keywords（推广关键词）服务，品牌商可与平台上的用户建立联系。Kik还通过Kik Points（Kik 点数）进行创收，这个类似于虚拟货币的功能会在用户完成一定的任务时奖励点数。这些点数可以用来换购贴图之类的电子内容。品牌商、内容创作者以及应用开发者正在以点数的形式向Kik 付费，从而为自己的产品导入流量及兴趣。

大概是这样。

这里摘一篇 WSJ 的文章

Kik Raises $38 Million to Battle Snapchat for Teens

Mobile-messaging app Kik is getting more cash to help it stand out from rivals Snapchat and Tango.

The Canadian startup has raised $38.3 million in a round led by hedge fund Valiant Capital Partners, the company said in an interview. The round also included new investors Millenium Technology Value Partners and SV Angel and several earlier investors. A portion of the funds will be used to buy employee stock.

Thousands of miles from Silicon Valley in Waterloo, Canada, where BlackBerry is based, Kik has quietly built one of the most popular apps on the Apple and Google app stores and amassed 185 million registered users.

Unlike some other mobile chat programs, Kik doesn’t require a phone number to sign up – a feature that Chief Executive Ted Livingston said makes it popular with teenagers who don’t like sharing their phone numbers.

Kik will use the new cash to turn its free mobile app into a moneymaking business. The company earlier this year began helping brands such as Seventeen Magazine and headphone maker Skullcandy interact with its users through “promoted chats.”

The advertisers use Kik’s technology to create branded chat robots that tell jokes or give out clues to a mystery, and Kik charges them around 20 cents for each user it helps bring into the promoted chats.

The unusual sponsorships may help Kik stand out from an increasingly competitive pack of well-funded messaging apps. Of Kik’s users, 68% are in the U.S.

Snapchat, with more than 100 million monthly active users, has already raised $150 million and is in the midst of raising another round valuing the ephemeral messaging startup at $10 billion, people familiar with the matter have said. Tango, with 250 million registered users, has raised more than $360 million from Alibaba and other investors.

Snapchat also began selling its first ads last month, when it pledged never to be “creepy” by targeting ads to users’ interests. The ads show up as an optional button alongside other “recent updates” in the app and disappear after 24 hours.

According to a comScore report this summer, 18 to 24 year olds in the U.S. spent 2.5% of their app time in June with Kik, ranking seventh ahead of Facebook Messenger and Netflix but behind Snapchat.

Along with its new Series C funding, Kik announced it acquired Relay, a maker of a popular animated GIF tool. Relay will be incorporated into Kik’s app and the standalone GIF service will be shut down Dec. 15, the companies said. Terms of the cash and stock acquisition were not disclosed.

Livingston founded Kik in 2009 while a student at the University of Waterloo. Initially, Kik was designed to share music within BlackBerry’s messaging service. But after it began offering chat as a separate app in 2010, Livingston noticed it was hugely popular and decided to focus on that.

The company last year settled a lawsuit filed by BlackBerry in 2010, alleging Kik infringed on its patents. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Kik began talking to investors about its Series C round earlier this year, after Facebook paid $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp, Livingston said. That deal sparked a flurry of interest from investors and overtures from potential acquirers among U.S. and Asian tech giants, which now see mobile messaging as an important strategic battleground, Livingston said.

“Every company in the West is realizing that they need a messenger if they want to play in this next phase of the game,” Livingston said. “And every player in the East has realized that if they want to play in the West, their only way in is by buying their way in.”

Rather than sell, Kik opted to raise more funds and accelerate its growth plans. Over the next year, the company plans to double its staff to about 120, from 60 currently, by recruiting from the University of Waterloo’s engineering program.

Livingston declined to comment on Kik’s current valuation. The company was last valued at $250 million in a round of funding in April 2013. Kik has now raised about $70 million from investors that include Foundation Capital, RRE Ventures, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures.

Some of Kik’s first advertising partners say they are already seeing strong results from promoted chats. Skullcandy recently held a contest where it auctioned off a ticket to the Los Angeles premiere of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” to promote a new line of headphones themed around the film. For a chance at that prize, Kik users had to solve a series of clues related to the film, entering their guesses and getting hints