With TikTok facing a possible shutdown in the US – if parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell the app – rival Triller has been working to pick up market share in the short video social media market.
Last fall, it hired ex-TikTok exec Sean Kim to head up the company’s Triller app division, and earlier this month, the app launched the website SaveMyTikToks.com, which promises to upload TikTok users’ videos to Triller, in an effort to pick up users looking around for a Plan B if TikTok goes dark stateside.
Triller says the initiative “has ushered in waves of creators seeking a US-owned platform free from political and regulatory roadblocks,” though it hasn’t disclosed user numbers.
Triller does appear to be gaining momentum among investors. Parent company Triller Group announced on Wednesday (January 29) that it had raised $50 million in an equity funding round, secured through a private placement with institutional investors.
The lead investor in the round was KCP Holdings Ltd., which acquired USD $14 million worth of Triller Group equity at $2.20 per share. Triller Group stock was trading at $1.90 per share as of mid-day on Thursday (January 30).
According to SEC filings, Cayman Islands-registered KCP Holdings now controls 7.25% of Triller Group’s common stock. KCP designated Dr. Roger Kennedy to serve as a non-executive director on Triller Group’s board.
The company hasn’t disclosed the other investors in its latest round, but did name some previous non-investor “backers” including Conor McGregor, The Weeknd, Marshmello, Lil Wayne, and “many more.”
“At Triller, we’re not just building a platform — we’re leading a movement,” Triller Group CEO Wing Fai Ng said in a statement.
Wing sought to downplay the role of TikTok’s troubles in the company’s strategic growth plans.
“Whether TikTok is banned or not has no bearing on our trajectory. With powerhouses like Conor McGregor and other global icons who champion our vision, we’ve created a platform that is designed to outlast TikTok and any other competitor,” he said.
“Whether TikTok is banned or not has no bearing on our trajectory. With powerhouses like Conor McGregor and other global icons who champion our vision, we’ve created a platform that is designed to outlast TikTok and any other competitor.”
Wing Fai Ng, Triller Group
Triller says the capital raised will go towards “enhancing the platform for users,” including new AI tools, enhanced live-streaming capabilities, and a revamped editing suite.
The company says it’s “poised for dominance in 2025,” aiming to position itself as the “premier social media hub” this year.
And it’s portraying itself as being on the right side of the increasingly politicized environment surrounding social media apps, publicizing the fact that it made a “sizeable contribution” to the Trump Inauguration Fund.
This marks Triller’s first capital infusion since its merger last year with AGBA, a Hong Kong-focused financial services firm. With the merger, Triller achieved its long-sought goal of a public listing. The newly-formed Triller Group began trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol ILLR last October.
The merger enabled the company to address some apparent financial problems, among them lawsuits from Sony Music and Universal Music Group, alleging the company had failed to pay music licensing fees. In an SEC filing in early 2024, the company revealed it owed music rights holders $23.6 million in unpaid fees.
As part of the merger plan, which shareholders approved last September, Triller Group set aside 50 million shares to be “applied toward future settlement of certain Triller legal and financial obligations.” Those shares would be worth $95 million at the current market price.
When Triller and AGBA announced their merger last year, they predicted a $4 billion IPO, but the company fell short of that, with a market cap of around $705 million on the first trading day. The stock has declined since then, with Triller Group’s market cap sitting at $295 million as of mid-day Thursday (January 30).Music Business Worldwide
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