Kik was founded in 2009, when a small but incredibly passionate group of University of Waterloo students decided to build a company that would shift the center of computing from the PC to the smartphone. Fast forward to today, and Kik has become the best way to connect with friends, no matter where you meet them. And unlike other messengers, Kik uses usernames - not phone numbers - as the basis for Kik accounts, so our users are always in complete control of who they talk to on Kik. But Kik isn't just about our users chatting with their friends. Our marketing tools let brands talk to and share cool content with our users, and track the results. Our developer tools help developers optimize and distribute their web content on Kik. And our built-in browser lets Kik users search for and share cool content and experiences - without leaving Kik, and without downloading anything new.