Getting users early on means that they will be more comfortable using a service like Kik as away to not only send messages, but also use add-on services. Already, the company hasintroduced new offerings like messages built on GIFs, the increasingly prolific animated imagesthat now litter the Web.

吸引年轻用户意味着，他们更有可能不仅将Kik这样的app用来发信息，还乐于使用它提供的各种附加服务。Kik已经提供了一些新功能，比如发送包含GIF图片的信息，这种动态图片如今在网络上随处可见。

It’s a similar approach, Mr. Livingston said, to how WeChat served as a gateway for manyfirst-time Chinese Internet users — and then added more and more features to keep thosepeople coming back.

利文斯顿表示，这种策略和微信采用的方式类似。微信充当了很多上网新手的入门应用，之后它推出了越来越多的功能，以保持用户粘性。

Though Kik and WeChat have known each other for some time, the investment grew out of astrategic review process that the Western app began in the spring with the help of QatalystPartners, the Silicon Valley boutique investment bank. Kik also weighed other options, includinga sale of itself, but it favored an investment. Taking money from a like-minded Chinesecounterpart simply made sense, according to Mr. Livingston.

尽管Kik和微信相互了解已经有一段时间，但是这一融资决定是在Kik进行了战略评估之后做出的。该项评估是在硅谷精品投行Qatalyst Partners帮助下，从今年春天开始进行的。Kik也对其他选择进行了权衡，其中包括出售，但最终它更倾向于融资。利文斯顿表示，从一家思路相近的中国公司获得融资，让人感觉比较合理。

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