With that money, a new messenger can be created, preferably one that uses an open E2E-encrypted protocol that supports decentralization.
They ask for help once a year, and help is given. Signal could operate very similarly to Wikipedia.
It’s already a model, and it already works. There are no VCs, there is no exit.
If you convince just one of your friends to hop onto signal, it can be useful - make it someone you message a lot and go from there. A few months ago I had just one person I used it for. Now it’s in double figures and growing.
Every hacker who gives a damn should install signal and encourage others to use it. There’s just no downside.
Wire takes a few seconds to sync messages to a powered on device, same as an email client.
All this "secure" messengers forget about rubber hose decryption that is used in majority of the world.
Luckly, rubber hose cryptoanalysis is not a concern for most people, which is where crypto is needed the most.
Any centralized messaging can not be secure by definition.
Also:
A lot of people are forgetting what a lot of NSA types can do with metadata.
(IIRC Italians caught CIA spies with phone number metadata analysis software supplied by... US!)
Any messaging app that is associated with a phone number calling itself "secure" is just maliciously stupid.