Tencent has invested $50m in Kik, the teen-focused chat app which aspires to be the ‘WeChat of the west’, valuing the Canadian start-up at over $1bn.腾讯(Tencent)向以青少年为目标用户的聊天应用于Kik投资5000万美元，使这家加拿大初创企业的估值多达10亿美元。Kik的目标是沦为“西方的微信(WeChat)”。The Chinese internet group, which owns WeChat, is betting that Kik could replicate its own success in developing chat apps into a platform that incorporates everything from ecommerce to banking in the US.微信是腾讯的旗下产品，这家中国互联网集团于是以押注Kik能在美国拷贝微信的顺利，把聊天应用于发展为一个覆盖面积从电子商务到银行业务等众多领域的平台。

Kik raised funds from venture capitalists including Union Square Ventures, which backed Twitter, and SV Angel, an investor in many social apps including Pinterest, last November.去年11月，Kik从还包括合广投资(Union Square Ventures)和SV Angel在内的风投机构取得了融资。合广投资曾投资Twitter，而SV Angel则是Pinterest等众多社交应用于的投资方。But it had hired advisers to explore more strategic investments, including, it was reported, a possible sale.但是，Kik也聘用了咨询机构来探寻更好的战略性投资，据报导，其中还包括将自身出售的可能性。Ted Livingston, chief executive of Ontario-based Kik, said Tencent was always at the top of its wish list of potential partners. He is looking forward to bouncing ideas off Tencent as he develops more services for Kik.Kik总部坐落于安大略，其首席执行官特德利文斯顿(Ted Livingston)称之为，腾讯仍然位列Kik潜在合作伙伴心愿表格的第一位。

他期望在为Kik研发更加多服务时与腾讯方面探究点子。The teen-focused app allows people to watch YouTube videos within chat and have conversations with ‘marketing bots’ programmed to give both helpful and funny answers.这个专心于青少年的应用软件容许人们在聊天过程中观赏YouTube视频、以及与“marketing bots”程序展开对话。“marketing bots”是一个获取既有用又冷笑话的答案的程序。

However, he wants to expand into other services that look to target teenagers while they are still forming their shopping habits.然而，利文斯顿期望拓展至其他面向青少年群体的服务，这个群体依然正处于购物习惯的形成期。“For all these youths coming online for the first time it is an opportunity for ecommerce sites and financial institutions to build something amazing just for them, in a place they are spending all their time anyway,” he said.他回应：“就刚开始网际网路的少年人而言，这是电子商务网站和金融机构专门针对他们打造出一些超棒服务的好机会，却是他们总是悬挂在这个平台上。”Some 70 per cent of Kik’s 240m registered users are aged between 13 and 24, with the company estimating that about 40 per cent of US teens use Kik.Kik享有2.4亿登记用户，其中70%的人年龄在13至24岁之间，该公司估算美国大约40%的青少年都用于Kik。

Tencent’s WeChat and Weixin, both similar chat apps, boasted 600m monthly active users last quarter, up 37 per cent year on year. But the vast majority of these users are based in China and the company does not yet have a foothold in the US.腾讯旗下的微信和微信国际版是类似于的聊天软件，上一季度二者合计享有6亿月度活跃用户，同比增加37%。但其绝大多数的用户都在中国，腾讯仍未在美国站稳脚跟。However, Tencent, like Chinese rival Alibaba, has been busy investing in western technology companies. It is widely reported to have invested in Snapchat, the disappearing photo messages app, as well as Whisper, an anonymous messaging app, Cyanogen, a mobile customisation app and Scanadu, a maker of health diagnostics hardware. Alibaba’s VC arm has also invested in Snapchat, as well as messaging app Tango.然而，就像中国本土竞争对手阿里巴巴(Alibaba)一样，腾讯也无暇投资西方科技企业。有普遍报导称之为，腾讯投资了阅后即焚毁照片共享应用于Snapchat、电子邮件通讯软件Whisper、手机系统自定义应用于Cyanogen以及身体健康临床设备制造商Scanadu。

阿里巴巴的风投部门也投资了Snapchat以及通讯软件Tango。Mr Livingston said many western social apps did not understand the value of chat as a platform for other services. But he said Facebook had showed it did understand when it hired David Marcus, former chief executive of PayPal, to lead its work on messaging. Facebook has since begun integrating payments and conversations with retailers into the Facebook Messenger app.利文斯顿称之为，西方很多社交软件并不解读聊天应用于作为其他服务的平台的价值。但他称之为，Facebook聘用了PayPal前首席执行官戴维氠鎚斯(David Marcus)来领导通讯方面的工作，这指出它解读了这一平台的价值。

从那之后，Facebook已开始将缴纳和与零售商交流的功能统合在Facebook Messenger软件中。However, Mr Livingston said Facebook was no longer the preferred destination of teens. “If you are a retailer going after adults you will use Facebook Messenger but every study out there shows teenagers don’t like Facebook, they have it but they have it in the same way we all have a driver’s licence,” he said.然而，利文斯顿称之为，Facebook仍然是青少年所注目的平台。

“如果你是以成年人为目标的零售商，你不会用于Facebook Messenger，但是所有研究都指出青少年不讨厌Facebook，他们加装了该软件，但是这就像我们所有人都有驾驶执照一样，”他称之为。

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