Alibaba to plough $200m into Snapchat
Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, is set to invest $200m (£133m) into Snapchat in a bid to build up its mobile services business, according to sources close to the deal.
The four-year old platform, which has attracted more than 100m users, recently started to open its service – which allows people to send messages which then disappear – up to brands via its Discover feature. Starbucks, Sony and Specsavers were among the first brands to sign up.
In January it also began carrying videos and articles from mainstream media outlets such as CNN and ESPN and most recently inked media-rights deals with sports leagues and broadcast networks, including the NCAA and Turner, to feature live sports via ‘Our Story’.
If the deal goes through, Snapchat would be among the latest Silicon Valley startups Alibaba has backed. Over the past few years it has invested in car sharing service Lyft and messaging app Tango.
It comes as Snapchat – which remains privately held – chases as much as $500m in a new funding round. The investements could value it at up to $19bn.