Fast-Growing Chat App Line Passes 300 million Registered Users

Line, the mobile messaging service from Japan, has made a huge push in Europe and Latin America, and is now celebrating passing 300 million registered users, one-third of which have signed up over the last four months — that’s two months quicker than it took to grow from 100 million to 200 million users.

However, it is only now planning a renewed assault on the US market, after changing its focus earlier this year and seeing growth decline there, Jeanie Han, CEO of Line US, tells TNW.

The company has been aiming to hit the milestone before the end of the year, and it’s made it with over a month still to go, as an official announcement confirms. There has been plenty of talk about a multi-billion dollar IPO — with some rumors suggesting it would follow the 300 million user announcement — but Han says the company has no comment on the speculation.

Stickers and content

One part of Line’s content approach is stickers, the large emoticons that it first pioneered and are now offered and sold by the likes of Path, Viber, Facebook and others. The company offers localized stickers in many markets, but beyond simply engaging users they bring in money too: sales of sticker packs — alongside in-app purchases from its ‘connected’ games and revenue from companies using its marketing platform — totaled $188 million (19.1 billion JPY) in gross revenue for its last quarter of business.