Snapchat raises $485.6 million from 23 investors: Report

Messaging service Snapchat ended the year by disclosing that the company had raised $485.6 million in the new funding round. According to Bloomberg, the California-based company said in the filing that it had raised the money from 23 investors. Though Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, didn’t disclose the investor names or the company’s valuation. Earlier **reports** suggest that Snapchat was having funding talks with investors, including Alibaba a few months ago. It was said that this could value the company at $10 billion. It was also said earlier that **Yahoo**  was planning to invest in the social app. According to the Bloomberg report, the filing punctuates how 2014 has been a year of skyrocketing valuations for many closely held technology startups. Numerous companies from business software makers to phone app developers have been valued at more than $1 billion this year as investors have piled into start-ups seeking fast growth. Earlier, Snapchat had **rejected a $3 billion buyout** offer from Facebook. After a while, Facebook launched Snapchat rival Slingshot, allowing consumers to exchange disappearing photos and videos without requiring Facebook accounts. On the same lines, Yahoo had acquired Snapchat-like messaging app **Blink** . Yahoo shut the app on both iOS and Android platforms. Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten had bought Viber, a mobile app enabling free calls and messages, for $900 million.