The parent company of Snapchat, the mobile-only ephemeral messaging app, popular among millennials, is expected to file its much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) later this week.
Last year, it was reported the California-based company, Snap, could go public as soon as March (as there is normally nine weeks from filing to this point) and be valued at $20 billion to $25 billion.
This value would make it the largest IPO since Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba went public in 2014, valued at $170.9 billion.
It would also be the largest US technology IPO since that of Facebook, which was valued at $81.2 billion in 2012.
This is technically the second time the company is filing. In November 2016, it confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the US Jumpstart Our Business Start-ups Act. This allows companies with less than $1 billion in revenue to secretly file for an IPO to test investor appetite.
The filing this week will be public and let people in on Snap's finances.
ITWeb previously reported Snapchat has a strong user base of 13- to 24-year-olds, which provides an attractive platform to reach young consumers and hook them on brands. The company now has more than 150 million active users, about 60% of whom are in that age bracket.
Arch-rival Facebook
The IPO filing comes amid heavy competition from the dominant Facebook platform.
Between May and November last year, the number of videos viewed on Snapchat tripled to six billion. Rival Facebook reported last year it was up to eight billion daily video views. However, that figure would be a combination of mobile and desktop views, whereas Snapchat is mobile-only.
The social networks are competing for eyeballs in the fast-growing video segment, especially on mobile.
Last week, Facebook introduced one of Snapchat's core features to its platform - Stories ? which allows users to post pictures and videos that disappear after 24 hours.
Facebook-owned Instagram was the first to introduce a similar feature last August. Facebook takes the copy-cat tactics a step further by introducing face-altering filters, something Snapchat is known for, to its Stories feature.
In 2013, Snapchat turned down a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook.
Hot hardware mess
Snapchat scrambled to put out fire fears last week when a fault in one of its custom wearables led to the device 'melting'.
Last year, the company debuted in the hardware space with Snapchat Spectacles - glasses that take first-person-view photos and videos.
The devices could only be purchased from pop-up vending machines that appeared in random locations around the US.
An owner of the sought-after spectacles told TechCrunch last week that after charging the glasses, for half an hour, the charging point in the case smelt burnt and had melted.
Snapchat did not comment on the reason for the fault, but replaced the pair and took the other in for inspection.
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