Photo messaging service Snapchat looks to be worth close to $10bn in the eyes of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has agreed to invest in the tech startup according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Snapchat famously turned down a $3bn offer from Facebook last year, and the Los Angeles-based ephemeral app has been in talks in recent months with a number of potential investors, including Alibaba, with nothing materialising.
The valuation could make Snapchat one of the world’s most valuable private tech startups, an impressive feat considering its low revenue.
Kleiner, a Silicon Valley-based venture-capital firm, was said to have invested close to £20m in May.
Both Airbnb and Dropbox were also valued near $10bn, but the one difference between those firms and Snapchat is that the self-destructive messaging service has made no revenue so far.
