Snapchat said to be raising new funds for a $19bn valuation

Snapchat is understood to be looking for $500m in new funds from venture capital investors

Snapchat launched in July 2011Snapchat is looking for $500m in new funds from venture capital investors

Snapchat, the smartphone app that allows user to take and send photos that are deleted within seconds of arrival, is raising new funds at a valuation of $19bn (£12.3bn). According to multiple sources, the company is looking for $500m in new funds from venture capital investors, some of whom backed the company last year at a valuation of $10bn.

Snapchat’s technology has grown exponentially over the last two years. According to data released by the company, its users send over 700 million photographs per day and view 500 million public “stories”. The company has begun allowing advertisers to send messages along with photos that are sent or posted publicly.

Investors, including Yahoo, have backed the company in an apparent effort to find the next big hit with younger technology users. Facebook still dominates across most demographics but increasingly younger users are looking for alternatives.

Although something of a mystery to anyone aged over 20, Snapchat has a very short but interesting history. Founder and Chief Executive Evan Spiegel turned down a $3bn buyout offer from Facebook in 2013, turning himself at just 24 years of age into one of the youngest paper billionaires in the world in the process. At the time he was still living with his parents.

If it successfully raises the funds it seeks, Snapchat will join taxi haling app Uber as one of the three largest privately-backed tech companies in the world – the other being the less well known Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker.