CNBC: Snapchat raising $650M at $16B valuation
- Three days after CEO Evan Spiegel stated the company plans to eventually go public, CNBC reports Snapchat plans to raise another $650M in private funding. New investors are said to include Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), Fidelity, York Capital, and Glade Brook Capital.
- Bloomberg reported in March Alibaba is investing $200M in the ephemeral messaging platform at a $15B valuation - sharply above the ~$10B valuation Snapchat received just a couple months earlier.
- Snapchat reportedly had 100M monthly active users as of last summer, and has begun monetizing its platform via ads. Spiegel also wants other revenue streams - other mobile messaging platforms such as WeChat and Line derive revenue from games, stickers, and payments/e-commerce. A video-publishing platform called Discover (supported by ESPN, CNN, and Vice) was launched in January.
- Snapchat might be looking to strike while the iron is hot: While making his IPO comments, Spiegel predicted a tech investing "correction" would eventually happen, and that the current investment climate was fueled in part by low interest rates.
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