Snapchat looks out to $19 billion valuation with latest funding


What Does Snapchat Do?

 

Snapchat  is a photo messaging application which was developed by Bobby Murphy, Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown, the Standard University students at that time. Snapchat can be used to take photographs, video recording, add drawings and texts and can be sent to a list of the recipients. These photos and videos which are sent are called as snaps. Users of this app can set a time limit for how long the recipients can view their snaps, after which they will be hidden from the device of the recipient and will be deleted from the Snapchat servers.

 

 

How Much Snapchat Funded?

Snapchat is looking to raise as much as $500 million in the new funding round which values the messaging company up to $19 billion. This latest valuation is huge increase for Snapchat, which Facebook planned to buy in 2013 for $3 billion.

Previous funding

  • Series A funding- $12.5 m in December 2012 from investors SV angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Benchmark
  • Series B funding- $80 m in June 22, 2013 from investors Institutional Venture Partners, Benchmark, Lightspeed Venture Partners, SV Angel, Tencent, General Catalyst Partners
  • Series C funding- $50 m in December11, 2013 from investors Coatue Management
  • Series D funding- $485 m in December 31, 2014 from investors August Capital, Yahoo, GIC

What’s Next of Snapchat

The increase in valuation is being used to extend its service and active user base. Last month it added videos and articles by mainstream media outlets such as ESPN and CNN. This brings Snapchat closer to competitors such as Twitter and Facebook.
More Of Snapchat

Snapchat was started by Brown and Spiegel as a project for one of the classes of Spiegel in Stanford University. Snapchat first launched in July 2011 under the name Picaboo. It was later renamed and re-launched under the name Snapchat.

Even at $19 billion, this mobile messaging app is the third most valuable tech startup which does not trade its shares publicly.