Snapchat builds social and multimedia messaging products and has expanded into AR filters, animated selfie lenses and hardware through multiple acquisitions. The company has used acquisitions to add capabilities—examples in the article include Vergence Labs, Scan.me, Looksery, Seene, Bitstrips and talks to buy Vurb. Management is preparing for a 2017 IPO and has arranged financing options to avoid selling equity before going public. Snapchat’s advertising revenues are described as budding, supported by a loyal teen user base. Financially, the article says Snapchat was on track to earn $350 million in 2016 and was aiming to be a $500 million to $1 billion business in 2017. The company previously raised a $1.8 billion Series F earlier the same year. Snapchat operates a free mobile app that allows users to send videos, photos and messages that vanish in seconds. The company raised $1.81 billion in an equity offering, signaling strong investor interest. Snapchat did not disclose a valuation in the filing; TechCrunch reported the company could be valued at about $20 billion. Reuters and the article note concerns that Snapchat is struggling to attract advertisers and that its estimated valuation may not be justified because of an uneven revenue stream. Investors in the recent round included General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price, Lone Pine and Fidelity, among others. Snapchat was not immediately available for comment. Snapchat provides a video messaging app that allows people to talk with friends, view Live Stories from around the world, and explore news. The app is available for Android and iOS and targets 13 to 34 year-old smartphone users. According to internal data, the app records more than 7 billion video views every day from over 100 million daily active “Snapchatters.” The company recently formed a partnership with Viacom, which was given exclusive rights to sell advertising around Snapchat’s content. Snapchat has approximately 650 employees and is continuing to hire massively. The company was created by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy and is based in Los Angeles, California. Snapchat is an ephemeral messaging app whose core product emphasizes temporary photo and video messaging. The company has expanded beyond messaging with Discover, a media platform carrying publishers such as CNN, MTV and National Geographic. Snapchat launched Snapcash to add payments capability, opening potential commerce use cases. The app is believed to have over 100 million active users, primarily in the U.S. Leadership has looked to Asian messaging models for monetization ideas including digital content, games and commerce. Recent strategic investor interest—most notably Alibaba’s $200 million investment—highlights the company’s perceived strategic value to major tech players. The article frames Snapchat as a promising platform for youth-focused media and potential commerce experiments. Snapchat is an ephemeral messaging app centered on sending disappearing photos and videos ("snaps"). The company reported over 400 million snaps sent per day, and TechCrunch confirmed it has more than the rumored ~30 million monthly active users. According to the article, Snapchat remains without a revenue stream in sight. Co-founder Evan Spiegel said the new funding will go toward growing the business. Crunchbase puts Snapchat's total investment at no less than $123 million. Previous backers cited in the article include Lightspeed Ventures, Benchmark, SV Angel, IVP, General Catalyst, and Tencent (the latter likely invested during the Series B).

Total raised

$2.3B

Funding rounds

8

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

May 2016