Telegram’s $1.7 Billion Token Sale Dwarfs Year’s Biggest Tech IPO

Developer of privacy messaging app is a magnet for investors and detractors

The Telegram app on a smartphone in Moscow on April 6, 2018. Russia's telecom watchdog asked a Moscow court to block the popular messaging app, after a deadline for it to hand over encryption keys to security services expired. Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

A little-known company called Telegram raised $1.7 billion from investors over two months in early 2018.

How big of a deal is this? It’s big, considering the March initial public offering (IPO) of Dropbox Inc.—considered the biggest tech IPO since Snap—generated $756 million. That’s less than half of the amount raised by Telegram Group Inc. in its two token sales in February and March.