Snapchat Gets $200 Million Investment from Alibaba

Snapchat, the popular yet controversial photo messaging application, is now the third most venture-backed company in the world, trailing behind Xiaomi and Uber. According to Bloomberg Business, Snapchat’s latest major investor is the Chinese e-commerce honcho, Alibaba, putting in $200 million in the social networking company.

The investment puts Snapchat at a $15 million valuation, sources familiar with matter said. CB Insights, an information services firm, ranks Snapchat behind the Chinese consumer electronics company, Xiaomi ($45 billion), and private car services provider, Uber ($40 billion.

Alibaba previously wanted to invest in Snapchat prior to its IPO, but, for some reason, that didn’t happen. Sources are now saying that Alibaba’s $200 million investment will be outside Snapchat’s recent $500 million in funding. Both Snapchat and Alibaba didn’t comment on the report.

Snapchat was founded by Evan Spiegel Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown in 2011 when they were attending Standford University. Spiegel reportedly turned down a $3 billion offer from Facebook and another $4 billion offer from Google. Snapchat partnered with Square to launch Snapcash, a money-sharing service. The company also introduced a new feature called Discover in February.