Sources: Snapchat Raising “North Of $10M” At Around $70M Valuation, Led By Benchmark’s Mitch Lasky
We now have a foil for all the young consumer startups trying to raise their first venture rounds. Snapchat, an increasingly popular mobile app that auto-deletes photos shortly after viewing, is about to close a big new round of funding from Benchmark Capital. We’ve been chasing for the last week or two, but Om Malik has published first — with a few different details.
We hear from industry sources that the company is raising “north of $10 million” at a valuation loosely around $70 million from Benchmark Capital, with terms getting finalized now. Partner Mitch Lasky is joining the board. Om is reporting that it’s an $8 million raise at a roughly $50 million valuation, with partner Matt Cohler instead joining the board. On that point, our sources say Lasky is the lead because of the Los Angeles roots he shares with the Snapchat founders. The many other investors trying to put in money didn’t have the same connection to the team, and Lasky’s LA track record is looking pretty good right now. He was an early investor in cloud gaming service Gaikai, which sold to Sony this summer for $380 million (one of the larger tech exits to come out of the region recently).
The small company hasn’t shared much about its future plans (like around monetization), but the growth story and the engagement help explain all the VC interest.
It previously raised around half a million dollars from Lightspeed Venture Partners.