Snap, the instant messaging and video platform formerly known as Snapchat, is preparing for an initial public offering that could value it at up to $25bn, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
The company, which is backed by investors including e-commerce group Alibaba, is preparing the paperwork and could float as early as March 2017 but is yet to appoint underwriters, according to several people familiar with the matter.
Founded in 2011, Snap began life as an app famous for allowing users to send photos that would disappear within 15 seconds, but as it has since expanded into one of the largest online social networks, adding video and taking its daily active users up to 150 million.
The company is also beginning to generate advertising revenue. It is reportedly on course to exceed the $250m to $350m revenue bracket it set for investors in 2016, and it has predicted it will surpass $1bn in 2017.
The recent name change was announced late last month when Snap launched its first hardware product, Spectacles, a $130 pair of eyeglasses with cameras that allow the wearer to record 10 seconds of video at a time by tapping them.
Snap has raised about $2.6bn since it was founded, $1.8bn of which came in a series F round that was closed in May this year at a post-money valuation of roughly $18bn.
The round, which Snap began raising in mid-2015, included Alibaba, financial services group Fidelity, York Capital, Glade Brook Capital, General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price, Lone Pine Capital, IVP and Coatue Management.
Other investors in Snap include internet company Yahoo, which took part in a $485m round in January 2015, internet group Tencent, which led a $200m round in 2013 at a $4bn valuation, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GIC, August Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Benchmark, General Catalyst Partners and SV Angel.