Snapchat Receives $60 Million In Funding, Now Sending 200 Million Messages A Day

200 Million Snaps A Day And Counting

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Snapchat, a service that allows users to exchange fleeting photo messages, raised $60 million in a funding round led by venture-capital firm IVP, the company said on Monday.

Snapchat also attracted a high-profile board member: Sony Corp. of America Chief Executive Michael Lynton.

The cash will go to hiring more engineers and deploying more servers, Snapchat said on its blog.

The service, started in 2011 by Stanford University students, has proven popular with teenagers and twenty-somethings, many of whom use it to send saucy photos.

Users can set a time limit for how long the photo messages may be viewed, up to 10 seconds, before they disappear. The company has come under fire for design loopholes that allow the technology savvy to save or retrieve the photos.

Existing investors General Catalyst, Benchmark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and SV Angel also participated in the round.

(Reporting By Sarah McBride; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot