Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant is investing $200 million in Snapchat, according to a report from Bloomberg. The latest funding will bring Snapchat valuation to $15 billion.
Snapchat was purportedly working on a $500 million funding round last month. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba’s investment is separate from that round. A $19 billion valuation would make Snapchat the third-most valuable venture-backed company in the world, after Xiaomi and Uber that value $45 billion and $40 billion respectively.
The ephemeral messaging secured $495.6 million from a total of 23 investors in January this year. Snapchat allows users to send text, pictures, and videos to friends that disappear after a few seconds. It launched a Discover feature that curates articles, videos, photos from publications and networks like National Geographic, People magazine, Comedy Central, The Food Network, and ESPN.