Snapchat in funding talks with Alibaba over US$10bn evaluation

30 Jul 2014

Snapchat is in discussions with a number of investors, including Alibaba, to get the imaging app valued at the US$10bn mark, according to sources close to the company.

Talks are ongoing and the exact details regarding a round of financing are still open to change, Bloomberg said.

Snapchat’s dealings with Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, would indicate Snapchat’s ambitions of expanding, given it was looking to puts itself up for an IPO of US$200bn earlier in the month, and would also explain Snapchat’s decision to rebuff Facebook, which attempted to buy the company for about US$3bn.

So far, Snapchat has raised around US$100m from some of the tech industry’s largest investors, including Benchmark, Institutional Venture Partners, SV Angel and General Catalyst Partners.

Some of the most recent internet success stories to reach the milestone of a US$10bn valuation include Airbnb and Dropbox, while ride-sharing app Uber broke all records for an initial valuation, raising the necessary funds to reach a US$17bn evaluation.

Snapchat logos image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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