Kleiner to invest in Snapchat at near-$10 billion valuation
Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer has agreed to invest in fast-growing messaging startup Snapchat at a valuation close to $10 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The venture-capital firm had committed to invest up to $20 million in Snapchat in May, the Journal cited one of the people as saying, without elaborating.
If the deal goes through, Snapchat would join a select club of tech startups with valuations of $10 billion or more, including car-ride service Uber and rooms-to-let startup AirBnB.
Snapchat, a so-called ephemeral messaging service popular with teenagers, turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook Inc last year, a source close to the matter told Reuters.
It now lets users send photo-messages that vanish within seconds, but is expected to soon begin offering advertising or branch out into additional services.
Source: Reuters
