Snapchat Closes Out Monster Funding Round

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Venice ephemeral messaging app Snapchat closed out 2014 with a monster round of financing.

According to a Dec. 31 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Snapchat has raked in more than $485 million from 23 undisclosed investors, bringing its total funding to date close to $650 million, according to Crunchbase.

Bloomberg reported in October that Yahoo Inc. had invested in Snapchat in October as part of an ongoing funding round that valued the firm at $10 billion.

The Wall Street Journal reported in August that Menlo Park venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers committed to invest up to $20 million last May.

Snapchat’s filing states that the first sale of shares in the massive round occurred on April 4, 2014, and so would have included those previously reported investments.

Snapchat has slowly begun to roll out features that will help it earn its sky-high valuation.

The photo- and video-sharing app ran its first ads in October, and a month later it launched a mobile payments feature called Snapcash in partnership with San Francisco’s Square.

Also, multiple reports suggest it’s poised to unveil a new revenue generating feature called “Snapchat Discovery,” which would recommend content to users from media companies such as Spotify, Vevo and Buzzfeed, among others.

Snapchat also ended 2014 with some good news on the privacy front. The Federal Trade commission announced on Dec. 31 that it had settled charges with the company over claims that it deceived consumers with promises about the disappearing nature of messages sent through the service.

Snapchat representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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