2014 CNBC Disruptor 50

What
An unlimited text, audio and video messaging app that works with any existing mobile plan.

Disrupting
Mobile telecom industry.

Headquarters: Santa Clara, Calif.
CEO: Jan Koum
Year Founded: 2009
Number of Employees: N/A
Funding: $8 million
Key Investors: Sequoia Capital

• Claims to now have more users than Twitter
• Claims its users send more than 20 billion messages a day
• Most popular smartphone app in most countries
• More popular outside than inside the U.S.
• Venture captial backer Sequoia Capital recently said it could become a more relevant social networking format than Facebook
• Founded by two former Yahoo executives
• Does not believe in advertising; in recent rare conference appearance compared its service to unadvertised essentials of life, like gas and water.