Snapchat Might IPO Sooner Than Later by PitchBook
Snapchat has held discussions with investment bankers about filing for an IPO later this year or in 2017, according to The Information. Although the company has yet to make anything official, the news is the latest signal that Snapchat may have a greater appetite for the public markets than many of its tech unicorn peers. The company’s will-they-or-won’t-they IPO has long been one of the industry’s most anticipated offerings.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has been vocal in his belief that the company must go public and has confirmed the company has a plan to IPO. That contrasts the larger industry trend of aiming to stay private as long as possible. This year has been notably barren of tech offerings, and the successful ones have all been enterprise plays.
Launched in 2011, Snapchat has raised north of $2.5 billion in funding from a long list of investors including Benchmark Capital, SV Angel, Spark Capital, Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The company most recently secured a $1.8 billion round in May at a valuation of $17.8 billion.
