Arab Money: Abu Dhabi Funds invested $150million in Telegram.

Abu Dhabi state fund, Mubadala Investment Co, and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, a Mubadala joint venture with Falcon Edge Capital, said earlier today that they had invested a combined $150 million in Telegram, a messaging app.

Mubadala invested $75 million in five-year, pre-initial public offering (IPO) bonds of Telegram, while Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners invested a further $75 million.

According to Faris Sohail Faris al-Mazrui, an executive at Mubadala, “Telegram’s user base has reached a critical mass that places it amongst global tech giants.” He also said that Telegram is well-positioned for an inflexion point that will transform it into a leading global technology company.”

Telegram, along with messaging app Signal, have seen an increase in users this year amid privacy concerns with larger rival Facebook-owned WhatsApp.

Launched in 2013, Telegram has shown pretty impressively 500 million monthly users. Telegram, already headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, will open an office in Abu Dhabi following the new investment.

For your information, Mubadala, which manages more than $230 billion in assets, is UAE’s second-biggest state investor after Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Also, Mubadala bought a 1.85% stake in Reliance Industries’ digital unit, Jio Platforms, for $1.2 billion, last year.