Ryan Kavanaugh, Co-Owner, Triller. Photo credit: Fortune Live Media, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Triller, the popular short-video app and challenger to the dominant TikTok, is in discussions to go public by merging with a blank-check acquisition firm, according to a report by Reuters. The discussions are said to coincide with Triller also seeking to raise around $250 million in new funding from investors, a fundraise being arranged by investment bank UBS. Before now, Triller is known to have raised about $38 million in private funding, including a $28 million Series B round raised in October last year. Triller as a company is majority owned by Proxima Media, a media investment firm founded by Hollywood veteran Ryan Kavanaugh, who himself has been instrumental to the growth of Triller. 

Triller overall is one of the most popular social apps in the US. However, even with millions of users, it pales in comparison to rival TikTok which has 100 million users in the US alone and hundreds of millions more globally. Triller claims to have 65 million monthly active users but has been dogged by doubts on that figure by analytics companies and even allegations by former employees of exaggerating its user numbers. Nevertheless, it’s certain that Triller has garnered a large fanbase along with slew of famous users including US President Donald Trump, and musicians Cardi B, Eminem, and Alicia Keys. The company has even gone to great lengths to attract TikTok stars onto its app. 

According to Reuters, Triller has already secured $100 million out of its targeted $250 million fundraise. The company now seems to be contemplating raising more private funding or going public by the way of a reverse merger in a move that’ll both secure new funding for the company and see it become publicly-traded.

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