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The latest valuation is a massive increase for
the company, which Facebook Inc offered to buy for $3 billion in
late 2013. Snapchat's previous funding round, completed late
last year, valued the company at more than $10 billion.
Executives of the company, which allows its more than 100
million users to send messages that disappear after a few
seconds, are in advanced talks with fund managers, the person
told Bloomberg. (http://bloom.bg/1AiWtif)
The investments being discussed would value Snapchat between $16
billion and $19 billion overall, Bloomberg reported.
Los Angeles-based Snapchat could not be reached immediately for
comment.
The drastic increase in valuation comes as Snapchat continues to
add to its active user base and extends its service. Last month
it added videos and articles by mainstream media outlets such as
CNN and ESPN, bringing Snapchat into closer competition with
Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc.
It is also the latest evidence of a surge in venture capital
financing for technology companies, that has produced some
eye-popping valuations.
Even at $19 billion, Snapchat would only be the third-most
valuable tech startup that does not trade its shares publicly.
According to research firm CB Insights, Chinese smartphone maker
Xiaomi is worth $46 billion and app-based taxi service Uber is
valued at $41 billion.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru and Bill Rigby in
Seattle; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Bernard Orr)
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