Kik Messenger, the popular cross-platform messaging application, raised an impressive $19.5 million in their second round of funding completed this week. The round, lead by Foundation Capital, marks significant growth for the start-up, which previously raised an $8 million funding round and just last week announced 50 million users.

The funding is significant for Kik, as CEO Ted Livingston has big plans for the start-up. Kik may be a pure messaging app on the surface, but the company is hoping to turn it into a platform centred around messaging. They’ve already taken a step in this direction with “Cards”, mini HTML5 apps within Kik that let you watch and share YouTube videos, create Memes, or play a fun puzzle game.

In a quick chat with TheCellularGuru last week, Livingston acknowledged Kik’s future as a messaging platform, saying that messaging is the killer app of mobile, and whoever can create a platform around it will win the race. We’re certainly interested to see how he plans to accomplish that goal, and where it will take Kik in the future.

[Source: VentureBeat]

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