“Will Snapchat follow Twitter’s disappearing act or capture investors like Facebook?”

Jordan Hiscott, Chief Trader at ayondo markets

“I often get asked how it’s possible that a company that lost over half a billion dollars last year will shortly be listing in a valuation that could be greater than $25 billion, raising $3 billion in the process. Snap Inc is undoubtedly the most talked-about tech IPO since Facebook and it’s amazing when you think of its humble beginnings just six years ago, when three friends met at Stanford University, initially to develop a photo sharing app called Picaboo. In 2013, there was a possible takeover by Facebook to the tune of $3 billion on a 100% cash basis, but this was rejected. As it stands, the growth has been rapid and they now have over 161 daily million users.

“So what sets it apart from other messaging apps like WhatsApp? For me it’s the innovative features built into the app’s interface, such as the lenses function. A pertinent point in the company’s S1 filing for the IPO is that it doesn’t call itself a messaging service, but a camera company. This seems to be an intentional move to differentiate it from Facebook and Twitter and the success and failure of their respective IPOs, which in my view, is very clever.”

“While the valuation of $25 billion does seem fully loaded, the user growth Snapchat has seen in such a short space of time makes this an exciting prospect.”