It was recently reported that Snapchat is in talks with Chinese Internet giant Alibaba for a new round of financing that could value the startup at $10 billion. Although both companies have declined to comment on the news, “people with knowledge of the situation” say that talks are ongoing.
Snapchat’s service – which is famous for pioneering self-destructing messages and photo’s – has caught the attention of major tech giants in recent months. Facebook, for example, offered the company $3 billion takeover proposal, which Snapchat rejected. Google and Yahoo have been interested in photo-sharing startup too.
The most enticing part of Snapchat, as the New York Times point out, is the company’s captive users – with the core user demographic being between the ages of 13 to 25 and 70% of that group being women. Moreover, the data being collected from users could be crucial for companies looking to invest, with reports suggesting that more than 700 million pictures are shared on the platform on a daily basis.
The news of Snapchat’s funding ambitions are the latest of a series of “eye popping” valuations from tech companies this year. April saw Airbnb secure $450 million in investment, valuing the company at $10 billion. In June and July, both Uber and cloud storage service Box witnessed $1.2 billion and $100 million investment, valuating the companies at $17 billion and $2.4 billion respectively.
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(Image Credit: TechCrunch)
