Snapchat Seeking Up To $19B in Valuation in New Funding Round

snap Snapchat is looking forward to raise as much as $500 million that would value the company at $16 billion to $19 billion. Executives are in advanced discussions with fund managers. The value is also close to the $22 billion that Facebook paid last year for WhatsApp, a messaging app that now has 700 million users. In 2013, Snapchat had rejected an acquisition offer from Facebook for USD 3 billion. As per a Bloomberg report, it also has been developing new features to make it an entertainment destination,a strategy that could help it lure more viewers and sell more ads. Apart from this, Snapchat has raised six rounds of investment, and secured a total funding of $648 million till date. It is backed by 11 investors and was launched in May, 2011 by Co-Founders Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel. The app allows to take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and share a moment with friends. According to a recent report by comScore, Snapchat is now the third most popular app among millennials (18-34 year olds) at 32.9% penetration, led by Facebook (75.6%) and Instagram (43.1%) among smartphone users. Other apps are also included in this space such as LINE, Kakao Talk, Whatsapp, WeChat, Kik, Tango, Viber etc.,which attract hundreds of millions of users. The four major competitors of Snapchat are 4INFO, Tawkers, Tackk and ChatApp. Category Investments Mobile Report: Snapchat seeks funds to bump value to $19B Report: Snapchat seeks funds to bump value to $19B 10 Share This Story! Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about Report: Snapchat seeks funds to bump value to $19B Another day, another potentially eye-popping valuation of a tech startup. This time, it's the messaging app Snapchat. According to Bloomberg, the company is seeking a new round of funding that would value the Try Another Audio CAPTCHA Image CAPTCHA Help ]]> {# #} CancelSend Sent! A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. The messaging service is reportedly seeking new funding that would value the company at $19 billion. USA TODAY’s Brett Molina shares why Snapchat is worth billions of dollars. (Tech, USA TODAY) Another day, another potentially eye-popping valuation of a tech startup. This time, it's the messaging app Snapchat. According to Bloomberg, the company is seeking a new round of funding that would value the company as much as $19 billion. Citing "a person with knowledge of the matter," the report says Snapchat wants to raise $500 million. The funding would make it the third most valuable venture capital backed company in the world, behind ride-booking service Uber and Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi. Last month, Snapchat disclosed it raised $486 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, part of a flurry of huge funding rounds. Also last month, Xiaomi closed a $1.1 billion round that values the company at $45 billion, while Uber raised $1.2 billion. Snapchat, a messaging app specializing in video and photo messages that disappear seconds after they're sent, branched out into the content space with Discover. The feature allows media companies including CNN, ESPN and National Geographic to share Snapchat-style news. Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1Eo9Mi2 0) { %> 0) { %> 0) { %> ]]> Snapchat seeks to raise up to US$500M in new funding: Report [unable to retrieve full-text content]Snapchat is looking to raise as much as US$500 million in a new funding round that would value the mobile messaging company at ... Los Angeles-based Snapchat could not be reached immediately for comment.