Google Capital has invested in Snapchat parent, rebrands as CapitalG
Google Capital, a unit of Alphabet which is Google’s parent holding company that invests in late-stage startups, has made an investment in Snap Inc., the parent company of social media platform Snapchat.
Rebranded as CapitalG, the investment was announced on the portfolio page of the company’s website, with no further information provided. Business Insider confirmed that it is a portfolio company of the growth equity arm of Alphabet.
Snap Inc. has recently raised over $2.5bn in a Series F funding round from investors such as Alibaba, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others.
Google and Snapchat have a history. In 2013, there were rumors that Google was trying to acquire Snapchat for $4 billion after it turned down Facebook.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, reported a 20.2% boost in quarterly revenue, as well as an over $7bn Class C stock buyback. According to CNBC, the earnings were due to strengths in search, mobile advertising and the dominance of YouTube in the video market. The third quarter earnings were up to $9.06 per share, adjusted, on revenue of $22.45bn, up from $7.35 per share a year ago.
In September, Google Capital led Airbnb’s $555m round of funding, which made it the second most valuable US startup behind ride-sharing app, Uber.