News Digest

Snapchat says it’s now worth $19bn as it seeks more funding

Snapchat - the app which lets you send and receive self-destructing photographs and videos - says it is worth $19bn (£12.4bn). The company is looking to raise up to $500m (£325m) in a new funding round, according to a company source cited by Bloomberg. If the money is raised, it would mean the company has doubled in value since last year - when it raised $486m (£314m) from investors including Yahoo. The app was developed by Evan Spiegel, who turned down a $3bn (£1.94bn) takeover offer from Facebook in 2013.

Snapchat has graduated from a brilliant concept – an ephemeral messaging app where photos, videos and texts simply evaporate after they’re viewed – into a full-blown social media platform.

Steve Tobak, Fox Business

Snapchat is particularly attractive to advertisers because it has younger users than many other social networks. On Friday, Snapchat branched out from its core service, launching the first UK and Ireland-specific channels for its Discover service. Sky News and Sky Sports now feature on the platform, publishing an edition each afternoon with stories specifically created for the app. At $19bn, Snapchat would be the third-most valuable tech firm that does not trade its shares publicly.