The founder and CEO of QIWI, Sergey Solonin, invested $ 17 million in the pre-ICO Telegram in January 2018, the businessman said at the Russian investment forum in Sochi, noting that he became the second Russian investor in terms of the number of investments in the project of Pavel Durov.
"I want Telegram to be a Russian company," Sergey Solonin explained. In the next round, he is planning to invest up to $ 10 million in Telegram.
It is noted, that the release of the messenger Telegram on the ICO became known in late 2017. The team of Pavel Durov is developing the Blockchain platform of Telegram - Open Network (TON) and the Gram. It is planned to raise $ 600 million during the presale and public sale which will begin in March.
According to business media, venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark, and Sequoia Capital are ready to invest $ 20 million in ICO Telegram. However, they do not comment on this information so far.
