Ephemeral messaging app Snapchat is now one of the world’s highest-valued private tech start-ups despite not having a proven revenue model.
According to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal’s Digits blog, the app has breached a milestone 100m monthly active users and about two-thirds of these users are logging on daily.
Furthermore, The Wall Street Journal reported that investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers agreed to invest up to US$20m in the company in May, with the company valued at about US$10bn.
Snapchat is said to be in the process of courting VC firms as part of a larger funding round that has not yet closed.
Founder Evan Spiegel, who famously rejected a US$3bn bid from Facebook to buy up the company in November last year, has likely disclosed revenue plans to get investors on board. To date, trickles of advertising have begun appearing on the service but the app’s future monetisation plans are kept under wraps.
According to ComScore, Snapchat’s audience penetration among smartphone-using adults in the US was 12.1pc in November 2013, and usage weighed heavily towards the predictive 18 to 24-year-old market. That figure has since reached 18pc and, as of June 2014, the app ranked third behind Facebook and Instagram in terms of leading social media apps.
Source: ComScore
