​​How TikTok’s Owner Became The World’s Most Valuable Unicorn (EN)
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The rise of ByteDance
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ByteDance was founded in 2012 and was originally based in a small apartment. It launched Toutiao, which remains one of its core products, later that year. The app caught on quickly, reaching 1M daily active users just 4 months after its launch.
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One factor that helped set the stage for ByteDance’s growth was China-based Alibaba’s massive IPO in 2014. When Alibaba debuted on the NYSE at a record-setting $25B valuation, more international investors started to look for similar success stories to emerge from the Chinese market.
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The result: a significant spike in capital flowing into Chinese tech companies — including ByteDance.
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Since 2014, the company has raised billions in disclosed venture funding.
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This enormous chest of capital has helped ByteDance to go head-to-head with one or more of the China-based BAT companies (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) in every vertical it targets, from Tencent in mobile gaming to Alibaba in e-commerce.
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What’s next for ByteDance?
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ByteDance’s growth to date is impressive, but its ability to sustain this trajectory is far from guaranteed — especially as Covid-19 continues to inject uncertainty into the global economy.
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The company faces a number of obstacles, including censorship concerns, escalating US-China trade tensions, and fears about data privacy. And with VC investment to China-based companies slowing https://www.cbinsights.com/research/startup-funding-china-covid19-q1-2020/ , ByteDance is under more pressure to drive up revenues.
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In support of this effort, some measures that ByteDance may take to boost its position include:
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✨ Expansion into new geographic markets. TikTok may be “China’s first global app,” but ByteDance will need to continue to expand its geographic reach if it hopes to continue taking on the likes of Facebook and Google.
✨ Continued investment in viral products. ByteDance’s most distinct advantage is its ability to engineer virality, and it will need to continue to cultivate that edge if it wants to sustain the moat it has built and fend off encroachment by rival tech companies.
✨ Accelerated horizontal expansion. ByteDance’s product portfolio is already sizeable, but it will need to continue to expand its scope if it hopes to keep pace with Big Tech competitors. Some areas that rivals are already exploring that may tempt ByteDance includes virtual and augmented reality, fintech, and healthcare.
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