This new set of business features with ad-revenue sharing capability puts Telegram in the game against Meta's WhatsApp and Messenger. Officially launched this weekend following an earlier announcement, Telegram Business introduces options such as a custom start page, preset replies, greeting and away messages, chatbots, tags for chats, and more.

While this is happening, Telegram has gone on to introduce a new money-generating feature-public channels that have at least 1,000 followers can now earn up to 50 percent of what other people earn from ads shown in their channels.

The new features come exactly two weeks after Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced in an interview with Financial Times that he sees the App, which now boasts over 900 million users, becoming profitable around 2025.

Clearly, therefore, Telegram Business is part of that push leading to a future IPO: it's an offering that requires the user to subscribe to the paid Premium edition to access.

Telegram Premium is a package of enhanced features that come at $4.99 per month on iOS and Android and are also available as a three-month, six-month or one-year plan. (Premium can be purchased in-app, too, via the @PremiumBot on Android, Desktop and Mac. This comes at a discounted rate, as Telegram doesn't have to share a commission with the app stores.)

As of December 2022, Telegram Premium had reached 1 million subscribers. Now, in January 2024, Durov said Premium has grown to 5 million subscribers, having just reached 4 million the month before, so subscriber growth does seem to be gaining momentum.

Telegram Business will likely increase Premium even further, as the latter includes tools and features accessible to business customers who might not have one line of code.

For instance, companies can add their working hours and even location on the map and welcome visitors with a personalized start page for blank chats where they can choose the text and sticker users see before they start a conversation. Like features available on WhatsApp, "quick replies"- shortcuts to preset messages that support formatting, links, media, stickers, and files-will also be available in Telegram Business.

Businesses can even set their custom greeting messages for the first time clients that would interact with their company, and they can even add a period after which the greeting will appear again. They can control their presence using away messages while the business is closed or the owner is vacationing.

Additionally, the companies can color-code their chats based on which chat folder they're in, like delivery, claim, orders, VIP, feedback, or any other that may fit them right.

Finally, businesses can create action links that open a Telegram chat right away-to track an order, reserve a table, and much more. Business users can also add bots-Telegram, including bots from other tools or AI assistants-whose presence will reply to messages on behalf of the business customer.

Future updates for Telegram Business will include more feature releases, the company said.

Durov has already hinted at what these may be. He said the FT earlier this month that Telegram plans to introduce AI-powered chatbots for business users.

The features can bring competition to the market in which Meta's Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp hold business communication. Not even Apple has managed to carve out a small niche for itself in this space, still using its Apple Messages for Businesses, by companies like Shopify, Aramark, Four Seasons, Harry & David, Delta, American Express, Dish, Discover, Hilton, Lowe's, Wells Fargo, West Elm, Kimpton Hotels, Vodafone Germany, and others.

While gaining access to Telegram's new business features requires a Premium subscription, there is no additional fee beyond that to enable the new options. (They are found at Settings > Telegram Business inside the app.).

In addition to the Premium subscriptions, income comes from Telegram Ads; it announced recently that it will share revenue with users via toncoin, a token on the TON blockchain. Now that the revenue-sharing program has kicked off, it said on Sunday.

Earlier, Telegram had tested the TON blockchain for auctions of usernames and a crypto wallet in all markets outside of the U.S.