Consumer Internet
Telegram
The Dubai-headquartered messaging platform (after earlier stints in London, Berlin, and Singapore), which crossed 1 billion monthly active users in March 2025 and reports roughly 500 million daily active users in 2026, growing headcount to about 1,800 employees. Telegram is the only major social platform without an advertising-driven core business model, monetizing instead through Premium subscriptions, Telegram Stars, and TON blockchain-related fees, with AI and mini-app integrations positioning it toward becoming what industry commentary describes as the largest open conversational AI platform.
Sources
Every claim traced to a primary source — evidence, recent activity, and insider filing behavior, all in one place.
Evidence
1 source · 54% avg. source confidence
- Business of Apps / Demand Sage — Telegram crosses 1 billion monthly active users54% source confidence
Dependency Map
What Telegram depends on below, and who depends on Telegram above — click any node to make it the new center, 2 levels deep.
Click any node to make it the new center. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan.
The Story So Far
Auto-generated from this entity's dated milestones, relationship updates, and sourced evidence — not AI-written, just sorted.
Telegram's Timeline
A sourced, dated history of Telegram's key moments — founding to present.
Jan 2013 · Founded
Telegram was founded, later relocating its headquarters through London, Berlin, Singapore, and ultimately Dubai.
Mar 2025 · Crosses 1 billion monthly active users
Telegram crossed 1 billion monthly active users, cementing its position among the largest global messaging platforms.