A company that rose to prominence during the pandemic as a potential TikTok rival has officially completed its IPO. Triller, the platform led by CEO Mike Lu, has become a publicly traded company after merging with Hong Kong-based financial services firm AGBA.
Triller stock is listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker ILLR. The company’s price opened at $5.60 per share but fell approximately 20% in early trading to reach $4.45 per share around midday.
The completion of the AGBA merger concludes a multi-year saga for a company that has long sought a public offering. Triller’s IPO ambitions date back to 2021, when it vied for a SPAC merger with SeaChange International. That plan eventually evolved into what Triller described as “the largest creator IPO in history,” but the direct listing never came to be.
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By 2023, Triller had yet another IPO plan in the works. Ultimately, it announced the AGBA merger in April 2024. At the time, the companies planned to reach a market cap of $4 billion, but the actual number ended up closer to $700 million, according to Music Business Worldwide.
Triller has a long history of contested financials and user numbers. Its 2023 claim of 550 million signed-up users didn’t match the equivalent figure in the Apptopia database, which attributed 73 million users to Triller (at the time). Some creators who have partnered with Triller have also spoken up about alleged missed payments that raise questions about the company’s financial state.
By going public, Triller is showing more transparency regarding those numbers. An AGBA filing from August claimed that Triller worked directly with 200 brands in Q1 2024. As of March 2024, Triller has 337 million consumer accounts across its owned-and-operated platforms, though that number includes inactive accounts. Triller posted $45.5 million in revenue in 2023; that number was down 4.5% year-over-year.
Triller’s accounting is tricky to parse, but there are simpler questions worth asking about the now-public company. For starters, what is Triller? Is it still the TikTok killer it tried to be a few years ago? Business Insider notes that Triller properties include its namesake app, an engagement platform called Fangage, influencer marketing hub Julius, and combat sports destination TrillerTV. The company, like so many others, is investing in AI as well. As Triller puts its IPO saga behind it, which of those paths will lead it into the future?
For a company whose legal battles have received more headlines than its creator partnerships, an IPO is a chance to start fresh. Triller’s best bet may be to wait out its main competitor. After all, TikTok is fighting to stay operational in the United States. If it loses that battle, Triller’s big moment could still be in front of it.
