$ 850 million already invested in Telegram ICO (GRAM)

ICO messenger Telegram, has not yet officially begun, but already set an absolute record on the size of the collected investments. 

Founder Telegram Pavel Durov reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about attracting of $ 850 million from 81 investors. According to reports, two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands – "Telegram Group Inc." and "TON Issuer Inc.", managed by the brothers Pavel and Nikolay Durov, provided the placement of securities. The receipt of investments began on January 29 and ended on February 13, with the amount of applications received exceeded the planned amount by more than 6 times: instead of $ 600 million, investors expressed a desire to invest $ 3.8 billion in a messenger and payment network on the TON project. As a result, applications for $ 850 million were approved.

ICO Telegram cannot be called the usual sale of tokens: it is much more classic and approved by the US regulator the placement of securities in dollars and euros. The SEC report is information on the placement of securities in Form D, which is often used by small companies to obtain venture financing and releases the company-issuer of securities from filing a full set of documents and financial statements.

The largest Russian investors

Official information from Telegram about investors and their invested amounts was not published. However, according to anonymous sources, several large Russian businesspersons also took part in the project.

February 16, co-founder Qiwi Sergei Solonin said that he invested $ 17 million in Telegram, while David Yakobashvili, co-founder of Wimm-Bill-Dann, told about $ 10 million investments.

Another Russian investor was Roman Abramovich. However, the exact amount of his investments is unknown. The figure $ 300 million, which was sounded by Abramovich's acquaintances, not confirmed by other sources. Therefore, there is information that the maximum amount from one investor does not exceed $ 20 million.

Pavel Durov himself refuses to comment on specific individuals and the size of their investments.