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(AsiaGameHub) –   On April 10, 2026, Kick—the popular streaming platform with strong links to online casino Stake—announced that its livestreaming service had passed 100 million users just three years after its launch. At the same time, co-founder Bijan Tehrani took the chance to admit that some areas of the platform have not measured up.

Kick Co-Founder Discusses the Milestone

In a public letter to the Kick community, Tehrani shared his pride in the team’s progress toward hitting the 100 million user mark. However, he also conceded that this achievement was ultimately more of a superficial win, as the platform still hasn’t reached the standard it needs or should be at.

Tehrani further explained that the platform has intentionally kept its beta label, noting that it was rushed to market with weak infrastructure, underdeveloped payment technology, and unreliable streaming. According to Tehrani, much of the past three years have been spent addressing and improving these gaps.

Tehrani also pointed out that Kick has received significant financial support from his other business, Stake. He and fellow co-founder Eddie Craven have invested nearly $1 billion into Kick so far, he said. The entrepreneur identified Kick’s mobile app as an ongoing weak point for the company, adding that a full rebuild is currently in progress and he is personally overseeing the effort to ensure a far better user experience.

Kick’s Creator Investment Strategy Has Shifted

Tehrani commented on how the company now approaches deals with creators. He explained that in the early days, the platform offered massive contracts to high-profile streamers—such as the two-year agreement popular streamer xQc signed in June 2023, which was reported to be worth up to $100 million.

While these moves gained a lot of attention and short-term growth, Tehrani said they were financially unsustainable long-term. The focus has since shifted away from these large contracts to strengthening the economic structure of the Kick Partner Program. Now, there’s an emphasis on rewarding creators who build authentic communities, Tehrani noted. Despite this, rumors surfaced in recent months that Kick had cut earnings from its partnership program, prompting an official response from Craven.

Kick’s next phase includes a new recommendation feature currently available to around 10% of users. It’s designed to highlight authentic streamers based on genuine engagement rather than inflated metrics or internal preferences. Tehrani explained that Kick is pursuing this approach to become the best long-form streaming platform for authentic engagement and discovery.