The Inspiring Stories of Billion Dollar Apps

It’s not a secret that building an app isn’t an easy task.

Now that the app development ecosystem has matured, only the most apt, talented, tech-savviest, and purpose-oriented players can win the app game. No less importantly, you should create a budget for your app development. Luckily, there are dedicated tools that can help you get an estimate of your project. One of such tools can be found at https://litslink.com/app-cost-calculator. But today’s article is concerned with the inspiring examples of the most successful apps that are worth more than 1 billion dollars. Check out the amazing stories of the world-renowned companies, whose names are now synonymous with success, fame, and prosperity, and see what you can learn from them.   

Instagram

It’s an indisputable fact that Facebook has a good nose for financially promising companies, which was the case with Instagram. Undoubtedly, the acquisition of this social media was one the best jack moves they made and one of the most profitable ones, as well. The fact that Facebook paid one billion dollars for a filter-adding app, which was launched two years earlier, was somewhat bewildering back then. But Instagram was gaining attraction rapidly, and the folks at Facebook were smart enough to see that. Though Facebook has more registered users and TikTok is gaining in popularity with rapid strides, Instagram still remains a powerful platform that can drive sales, boost engagement, and increase exposure, and help brands and businesses reach their target audience. 

Uber

Uber, whose current valuation is more than $60 billion, really has a special place in our hearts mainly for providing us with a way better alternative to traditional taxis. People do love this company’s story, not only because they have and still are disrupting an entire industry, but also because of their business farsightedness. They chose not to sell early on; instead they focused on growth and took the company public.  

Just to give you a glimpse into the kind of numbers Uber is currently getting, even in spite of the pandemics, which had been quite hard on the company, Uber ‘continued to deliver improving Adjusted EBITDA performance, up $171 million quarter-over-quarter, and remain well on track to achieving [their] profitability goals in 2021.’ Indeed, Uber is still on track to be one of the most prolific tech companies of our time. 

WhatsApp 

It’s a rare app developer who doesn’t dream about building an app that would be at least a little bit as popular and financially successful as WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook for almost $19 billion. 

The first messaging app on this list, WhatsApp is an indisputable market leader in its sector. More than a billion of active users stay loyal to WhatsApp Messenger because of its transparent terms of use, unlimited real time messaging, high performance, absence of hidden costs and pesky ads, ease of use, and much more. But back in 2014, lots of people were wondering why Facebook was willing to pay that much for the messaging app that was barely doing 20 million in revenue per year. The simplest answer is data. Facebook is extremely good at big data, slurping up as much information about users as they can and then using it to show you relevant ads. That’s how they’ve been making money so far. 

Candy Crush by King 

Remember when everybody was playing Candy Crush? Are you ready to have your mind blown? The Company named King was generating $3.5 million every single day from Candy Crush alone. Seeing all this potential, Activision Blizzard decided they needed themselves to put their hands on such a successful app. They finally picked it up for $5.9 billion, which was a fair price for the product, which still keeps on crushing it and brings in colossal revenues. 

Viber 

In 2014, Viber was the second largest acquisition of a messaging app. It’s rightly considered a very active and competitive space in the mobile messaging arena. Apart from having over one billion registered users, Viber has managed to surpass WhatsApp on a daily active user basis in Eastern Europe, Russia, and some Asian markets, making it a very attractive acquisition for Rakuten, which purchased it back in 2014. 

These are some stories of amazingly successful applications that have thrilled the world. Hopefully, these examples will inspire you to create your own app that will not only pave your way toward financial prosperity, but also help you realize your creative potential and apply your business acumen skills.