Ephemeral messaging app Snapchat’s success doesn’t appear to be fleeting: The startup is reportedly raising new funding and lifting its valuation.
Snapchat, which lets users send photos and videos that disappear after being viewed and read bite-sized content from publishers, is said to be seeking to raise about $200 million in new funding as an add-on to its prior round, according to a report from TechCrunch that cited anonymous sources as well as documents obtained by VC Experts.
As part of the deal, Snapchat is reportedly seeking a valuation of $20 billion to $22.7 billion, up from its current valuation of $16 billion. Earlier this year, Snapchat was said to have raised $175 million in investment led by Fidelity, although Snapchat’s valuation in that fundraising was unchanged from what it was previously.
In late 2015, amid a cooling of the market for hot tech startups, Fidelity marked down the value it attributed to Snapchat. However, Fidelity has since vacillated in its assessment of “unicorn” startups—those valued at $1 billion or more—in its portfolio.
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Although it began as a silly mobile app for teenagers, Snapchat has grown into a buzzy media company attracting the attention—and dollars—of major advertisers and publishers. A year ago, co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel revealed that the app had more than 100 million daily active users, and that 65% of them send a photo or video every day.
At the time, Spiegel also said that he was dead-set on taking Snapchat public, an ambition that’s likely to be under even more pressure as the company continues to increase its private valuation. The company has been adding creative features (and revenue streams) to its product such as “lenses” and geofilters, some of them as the result of acquisitions. In March, Coins2Day reported that it had acquired BitStrips, the company behind the quirky emoji known as Bitmoji, for $100 million.
Snapchat declined to comment about its reported fundraising.