TikTok Competitor Triller Obtains $50m in Equity Funding

Martina
10 February 2025, Monday

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With TikTok’s future in the US being uncertain, competing social media platforms—especially those focused on short video content—are contending for market share. Among them is Triller, which has now secured $50m in equity funding.

The competition to replace TikTok has begun

Triller, an American video-sharing social networking service, was established in 2015. While it gained prominence in 2020 as TikTok’s competitor, particularly in the USA and India (where TikTok is banned), the platform remains relatively under the radar.

However, its 2020 success helped raise its profile for more users and enabled its parent company to expand into sports broadcasting and promotion, including high-profile pay-per-view boxing events under the Triller Fight Club series.

That same year, Triller signed licensing deals with rights societies like GEMA and IMRO and publishers such as Downtown and partnered with B2B music company 7digital. This partnership granted access to a catalog of 80 million and automatically reported usage data to all major record labels and Merlin Network.

Yet, alongside its growth, Triller has experienced setbacks and faced scrutiny over the years. In 2020, a third-party analytics firm reported an estimate of only 52 million lifetime app installations since 2015, while the company claimed 250 million. Later that year, Triller stated it had 100 million active monthly users. Still, this claim was refused by six of its former employees, who shared screenshots of the firm’s internal analytics showing fewer than 2.5 million users.

2025: Is Triller back and stronger than ever?

In 2024, after merging with AGBA, a Hong Kong-focused financial firm, Triller appointed former TikTok exec Sean Kim to lead the company’s Triller app division, perhaps in an effort to attract TikTok users amid the potential US ban. In support of this, the app also launched a website, SaveMyTikToks.com, which promises to upload TikTok users’ videos directly to Triller.

Even more importantly, as media outlets reported, Triller is gaining quite a momentum among investors. Most recently, the social network secured $50 million through a private placement with institutional investors. The lead investor in the round was KCP Holdings Ltd., which acquired USD $14 million in equity and now reportedly controls about 7.25% of Triller Group’s common stock.

While the company did not disclose any other investors in the latest funding round, it did reveal some previous non-investor celebrity “backers,” including The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, and Marshmello.

Triller said the funding will be used to " enhance the platform for users,” including developing new AI tools, offering enhanced live-streaming capabilities, and revamping the editing suite. In the long run, the platform aims to position itself as the “premier social media hub.” It also emphasizes its right-side stance in the increasingly politicized social media landscape in the US, claiming it made a substantial contribution to Trump’s Inauguration Fund.

However, there is speculation that Triller publicly denies— that TikTok’s current challenges play a crucial role in the company’s strategic 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,” said Triller Group CEO Wing Fai Ng.