Tencent was founded by Pony Ma, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan and Zeng Liqing in November 1998[22] as Tencent Inc.[23] Incorporated in the Cayman Islands.[24] Initial funding was provided to it by venture capitalists.[4] In February 1999, Tencent's messenger product OICQ released.[25] Shortly after, Tencent had the client's name changed to QQ; this was said to be due to a lawsuit threat from ICQ and its owner AOL.