Alibaba invests US$280mil in messaging app Tango

FUNDING: Tango, the mobile messaging app-maker, announced Wednesday it has raised US$280mil (RM922.04mil) in a new funding round led by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. — Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO: Tango, the mobile messaging app-maker, announced Wednesday it has raised US$280mil (RM922.04mil) in a new funding round led by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. 

By almost any measure, the investment amounted to a staggering sum for a mobile app developer. The deal, which came one month after Facebook Inc's stunning US$19bil (RM62.58bil) acquisition of WhatsApp, underscored the lengths that Internet companies are willing to go to gain a foothold in mobile communications.