TikTok is one of the largest growing content platforms with over two billion downloads among users across the world since its merger with Musical.ly in November of 2017. However, before the merger in 2017, the parent company of TikTok, Bytedance, has developed other products such as Toutiao and TopBuzz/BuzzVideo that make up what is today’s TikTok and allows it to deliver the content it is known for and somehow differentiates it from other content-sharing platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. Toutiao is a content platform that started out as a news recommendation engine and evolved into a platform delivering content in many different types of formats.

These multiple streams ensure constant delivery of of highly tailored content to each of its users as described in an article from the New York Times,

“There is an unmistakable sense that you’re using something that’s expanding in every direction. The pool of content is enormous. Most of it is meaningless. Some of it becomes popular, and some is great, and some gets to be both…”

This solves the problem of being able to reach different users of all types and has managed to create a specific yet universal experience amongst its many users from different walks of life.

Earlier funding stages include a seed round back in 2012, raising $5 million and, more recently, $3 billion during its Series E round of funding and a valuation of $75 billion in October 2018. Its business model consists of various monetization models such as the use of in-app purchases, advertisements, sponsorships, etc. along with the notion that the company can profit from a percentage of monetized content created by influencers or other content creators, thus creating a win-win for both the company and the customer.

Due to a leak in December 2020, TikTok’s pitch deck is now available online to paying monthly members on platforms like scribd.com and adage.com.