There were many rumors floating recently that Snapchat could receive a substantial investment from one of China’s top companies and now a report “confirms” that this has indeed happened. According to sources cited in the report China’s Alibaba has made a $200 million investment in Snapchat. It is being viewed as an investment that potentially puts the value of the ephemeral messaging service at $15 billion.
It would be an understatement to say that Snapchat is popular. The ephemeral messaging service is used by millions of people around the world. Teens and millennials make up the core user base of Snapchat.
The idea behind this service is simple enough. People send messages, pictures and short videos to each other that disappear after a few seconds. The self-destructing message concept has already been adopted by many other social apps.
The reported cash infusion from Alibaba is Snapchat’s second in just over six months. It’s the fifth investment round for the company since 2013, the year it was reported to have declined an acquisition offer from Facebook, which was to the tune of $3 billion.
While representatives for Alibaba and Snapchat have not yet commented on this deal, Bloomberg reports that the latest cash infusion doesn’t meet the $500 million that Snapchat was believed to be after last month, that would have pushed the company’s valuation to as much as $19 billion.
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