Snapchat valued at $10 BILLION in latest round of funding

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Snapchat valued at $10 BILLION in latest round of funding

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Wednesday, August 27, 2014 Label:

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Last year Snapchat famously turned down a £1.8 billion ($3 billion) offer from Facebook - a decision that left many stunned considering the company was - and is - yet to make any serious revenue.

But the move seems to have paid off, as Snapchat's owners are set to become billionaires with reports that the company is now valued at £600 million ($10 billion).

In a recent round of funding, investors promised millions to the company in a move that sees the company jump significantly in value within less than a year.

The California-based owners of Snapchat (Evan Spiegel left, Bobby Murphy right) are set to become billionaires following reports that investors have promised the company millions. And the latest funding gives the company a valuation of £600 million ($10 billion)

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer has agreed to invest in the fast-growing messaging startup Snapchat at a valuation close to £600 million ($10 billion), reports the Wall Street Journal.

INSTAGRAM LAUNCHES BOLT TO TAKE ON SNAPCHAT

Instagram has launched a new ephemeral messaging app called Bolt.

The app, which functions in a similar way to Snapchat, allows users to quickly share self destructing photos or videos with a friend.

Like Snapchat, the user can tap on a friend's face to instantly send a photo, or hold their finger down to send a video.

However, Bolt only allows you to send messages to one person at a time, which makes it frustrating if you're looking to distribute photos or videos to a group of friends.

The favourites bar at the bottom of the app also only contains four friends, though you can apparently add up to 20 contacts in total.

Bolt is currently only available in New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.

The venture-capital firm had committed to invest up to £12 million ($20 million) in Snapchat in May, the Journal cited one source as saying.

And apparently at least one other strategic investor has committed to joining the latest round of funding.

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If the deal goes through, Snapchat would join a select club of tech startups with valuations of £600 million ($10 billion) or more, including car-ride service Uber and rooms-to-let startup AirBnB.

Snapchat lets users send photo-messages that vanish within seconds, but is expected to soon begin offering advertising or branch out into additional services.

This may include the ability to send instant money transfers to other users.

Though Snapchat and other similar mobile messaging apps don't have established business models yet, their rapid user growth and perceptions of advertising potential have aroused intense investor interest over the past year or so.

The valuation put Snapchat (California HQ shown) in an elite group of super-rich tech startups. More than 700 million snaps are sent a day but the company is yet to make any serious revenue. However it apparently has plans to monetise the app in future. This may include allowing people to transfer money to other users

Snapchat is continuing to grow in popularity, with people sending more than 700 million disappearing messages a day.

In June Facebook launched a similar app called Slingshot in the hope of replicating Snapchat's success.

The app allows consumers to exchange photos and videos, which will later disappear, without requiring Facebook accounts.

But despite its rapid growth, Snapchat has had a number of obstacles to contend with.

The group this year settled charges with US regulators, which accused it of deceiving consumers by promising that photos sent on its service disappeared forever after a period of time.

According to the Federal Trade Commission at the time, photos sent on Snapchat could, in fact, be saved by recipients using several methods, such as taking a screenshot.