<p>Kik, a popular mobile messaging app that also lets people share videos, drawings and voice messages, just got a little more gas in the tank for its race against rivals like WhatsApp, GroupMe, MessageMe and Facebook Messenger.</p><p>On Monday, Kik, a Canadian company, announced that it had raised $19.5 million in a new round of venture financing, led by Foundation Capital, which invested in Netflix, and with participation by RRE Ventures, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. In addition, the company will be getting board advice from Anamitra Banerji, who held the title of Twitter's first product manager and is now at Foundation Capital. Previously, the company raised close to $10 million in a seed and Series A round; the new infusion brings the company's total financing to $29.1 million.</p><p>Ted Livingston, the company's chief executive, said that the most recent round of financing was harder than the last two.</p><p>"The market for consumer mobile has cooled off a lot from a year ago," he said. "There's been a lot of disappointment, and no one is making any money or big exits. Fortunately for us, we had fantastic numbers and growth across all our metrics, so it was very doable."</p><p><a href="http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/messaging-app-kik-raises-19-5-million/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/04/22/kik-raises-19-5m-to-continue-waging-its-messaging-war/">Kik raises $ 19.5M to continue waging its messaging war</a> (GigaOM)</p><p><a href="http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/waterloo-mobile-messaging-startup-closes-19-5-million-financing-round/32979">Waterloo mobile messaging startup closes $ 19.5 million financing round</a> (ITBusiness.ca)</p><p><a href="http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/kik-raises-195m-round-vows-ott-messaging-app-will-remain-free/2013-04-23">Kik raises $ 19.5M round, vows OTT messaging app will remain free</a> (Fiercemobilecontent)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dwCDBRrlaNGaM2Mrj9N2aqeAOZJHM&ned=us">16 additional articles.</a></p>