Popular messaging app Kik is, certainly, “here to remain” following an acquisition by the Los Angeles-based multimedia holding business, MediaLab .

It echoes the exact same message from Kik’s president Tim Livingston recently when he rebuffed earlier reports that the business would close down amidst a continuous fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Livingston had tweeted that Kik had actually signed a letter-of-intent with a “excellent business,” however that it was “not a done offer.”

Now we understand the business: MediaLab. In a post on Kik’s blog site on Friday the MediaLab stated that it has actually “settled an arrangement” to obtain Kik Messenger.

” Kik is among those remarkable locations that brings us back to those early goals,” the article read. “Whether it be an enthusiasm for an unknown manga or your preferred football group, Kik has actually revealed an unbelievable capability to supply a platform for brand-new relationships to be created through your cellphone.”

MediaLab is a holding business that owns a number of other mobile residential or commercial properties , consisting of confidential social media Whisper and mixtape app DatPiff . In obtaining Kik, the holding business is broadening its mobile app portfolio.

MediaLab stated it has “some concepts” for establishing Kik going forwards, consisting of making the app quicker and minimizing the quantity of undesirable messages and spam bots. The business stated it will present advertisements “over the coming weeks” in order to “cover our costs” of running the platform.

Buying the Kik messaging platform includes another social networks weapon to the toolbox for MediaLab and its president, Michael Heyward .

Heyward was an early star of the budding Los Angeles start-up neighborhood with the launch of the confidential messaging service, Whisper almost 8 years earlier. At the time, the business was among a clutch of confidential apps — — consisting of Secret and YikYak — — that raised 10s of countless dollars to use online models of the confessional journal, the burn book, and the restroom wall (respectively).

In 2017, TechCrunch reported that Whisper went through considerable layoffs to fend off collapse and put the business on a course to success.

At the time Whisper had approximately 20 million regular monthly active users throughout its app and site, which the business was wanting to generate income from through programmatic marketing, instead of brand-sponsored projects that had actually offered a few of the business’s profits in the past. Through widgets, the business had an extra 10 million audiences of its material per-month utilizing different widgets and a reach of around 250 million through Facebook and other social media networks on which it released posts.

People knowledgeable about the business stated at the time that it was seeing gross profits of approximately $1 million and was going to strike $12.5 million in profits for that fiscal year. By 2018 that earnings was anticipated to top $30 million, according to sources at the time.

Anonymous app Whisper lays off 20% of personnel to endure

The flagship Whisper app let individuals publish brief littles confidential text and images that other folks might like or comment about. Heyward meant it to be a method for individuals to share more intimate and individual information — — to be a social media for confessions and assistance instead of harassment.

The concept captured on with financiers and Whisper handled to raise $61 million from financiers consisting of Sequoia, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Shasta Ventures . Whisper’s last round was a $36 million Series C back in 2014.

Fast forward to 2018 when Secret had actually been closed down for 3 years while YikYak likewise folded — — selling its engineering group to Square for around $1 million. Whisper, on the other hand, apparently established MediaLab as a holding business for its app and extra properties that Heyward would aim to roll up. The business submitted registration files in California in June 2018.

According to the filings, Susan Stone, a partner with the financial investment company Sierra Wasatch Capital , is noted as a director for the business.

Heyward did not react to an ask for remark.

Zack Whittaker contributed reporting for this short article.

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