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.