US-based instant communication app Snapchat has secured $537.7m in new funding from investors including e-commerce company Alibaba, CNBC reported on Friday.
The figure is backed up by a regulatory filing made on the same day, and the cash was raised as part of a $650m round that will value Snapchat at $16bn, undisclosed sources told CNBC. Other investors in the round include Fidelity Investments, York Capital and Glade Brook Capital.
Snapchat is best known for its core offering, a picture-based messaging service utilising images that disappear a limited time after they are opened, but as it has grown it has expanded into music, videos, text messaging and money transfer.
The series F funding comes two and a half months after reports stated Alibaba was set to invest $200m in Snapchat at a $15bn valuation, at the same time as Snapchat raised a separate $500m at a valuation of $16bn to $19bn, but the amount invested by Alibaba has not been disclosed.
The company reportedly avoids traditional methods of fundraising, accumulating venture capital not in hard rounds but through a rolling fundraising method at which its valuation continually adjusts.
Alibaba allegedly entered talks to invest in Snapchat at a $10bn valuation last year, only to subsequently change its mind.
Snapchat has now raised approximately $1.17bn in equity funding altogether. Its previous investors include internet companies Tencent and Yahoo, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Benchmark, General Catalyst Partners, SV Angel, Institutional Venture Partners and Coatue Management.