The company that owns the popular Snapchat messaging service is working on going public at a value of $25 billion or more, according to a report on Thursday.
Snap Inc. Aims to hit the market as early as late March, the Wall Street Journalreported citing anonymous sources. Thanks to advertising revenue from Snapchat, Snap is growing quickly, with sales expected to hit $250 million to $350 million this year and $1 billion next year, the Journal reported.
Snap declined to comment to Coins2Day.
Rumors of a Snap IPO have been circulating for weeks. The company was said be aiming to file an IPO registration statement by year end so it could go public in 2017, The Information reported last month.
Snap has yet to hire bankers to work on an IPO filing, the paper reported. But the company hired Imran Khan last year as chief strategy officer. Khan is a former investment banker who worked on Alibaba’s (BABA) massive IPO.
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If Snap pulled off an initial public offering valuing the company at $25 billion, it would be one of the largest technology debuts in years. Unlike some highly valued start ups, the valuation would be higher than the company’s value in its last private round of financing. Investors valued Snap at about $20 billion when it raised money in May.
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The IPO market for tech companies has been almost moribund this year, but a recent successful deal is raising hopes of a comeback. Nutanix (NTNX), which makes cloud-related software, went public last week at $16, more than doubled in the first day of trading, and hit a high of $46.78 on October 3.
Investors have been clamoring for IPOs from some of the larger and more well-known startups, including Snap, Uber, and Airbnb.