Telegram

In a joint statement, Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners announced they had invested a combined $150 million in messaging app Telegram.

"Our investment in Telegram establishes a strategic partnership for us to further strengthen Abu Dhabi's technology ecosystem as well as bring new levels of tech skills and talent to the capital," Mubadala said in the statement.

Launched in 2013 by brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov as a secure messaging app, Telegram has its headquarters in the UAE.

Telegram announced support for one-on-one video calls for its Android and iOS apps. The developer promised support for group video calls in the coming months.

In a blog post, the company said: "All video calls are protected with end-to-end encryption. To confirm your connection, compare the four emoji shown on-screen for you and your chat partner – if they match, your call is 100% secured by time-tested encryption also used in Telegram's Secret Chats and Voice Calls. You can find more details on this page."

Telegram, the messaging app, filed a formal antitrust complaint to the EU over Apple’s App Store. The company joins Spotify and Rakuten in complaining the app store represents a monopoly power, given that developers have to accept Apple’s terms, including a 30 per cent commission on in-app purchases.

In its complaint, Telegram took issue with Apple’s argument that the App Store commission keeps it running. Pavel Durov, Telegram founder, stated "Every quarter, Apple receives billions of dollars from third-party apps. Meanwhile, the expenses required to host and review these apps are in the tens of millions, not billions of dollars. We know that because we at Telegram host and review more public content than the App Store ever will".

Telegram Group has agreed to an $18.5 million civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and to return $1.2 billion to investors to resolve charges over an unregistered digital token coin offering, the SEC said in a statement on Friday.

In October 2019 the SEC filed a complaint against Telegram alleging the company had raised capital through the sale of 2.9 billion Grams, on its TON (Telegram Open Network) blockchain, to finance its business.

"I want to conclude this post by wishing luck to all those striving for decentralisation, balance and equality in the world. You are fighting the right battle. This battle may well be the most important battle of our generation. We hope that you succeed where we have failed." wrote Pavel Durov, creator of Telegram, announcing the shutdown of its TON blockchain platform.