Snap poised to raise up to $3.2B from IPO at a valuation of $18.5B

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has set a valuation range of $16.2 billion to $18.5 billion for its upcoming IPO.

That’s according to an updated filing which revealed that Snap shares will be priced between $14-$16, meaning it could bring up to $3.2 billion in capital. Snap’s pricing is below its initial range of $20 billion-$25 billion — and below what it raised at in its last equity round — but it still promises to be the highest valued U.S. tech IPO since Alibaba, which went public in a record $25 billion offering in 2014. In addition, the less aggressive price setting could also drive interest from investors.

There’s been no absence in hype, too. Snap’s IPO is long-awaited, particularly since AppDynamics ducked out of what was poised to the year’s first tech listing after Cisco paid $3.7 billion to acquire the firm right before its debut.

Snapchat filed its papers on February 2, opening up a vat of previously unconfirmed data around its business and usage, including that revenue grew six-fold to $400 million last year and losses widened to $515 million. The company also revealed it has 161 million daily active users, most of whom are based in the U.S. and Western Europe. As we reported, the firm hasn’t made significant progress in international markets like Asia while Instagram Stories — the best-placed of Facebook’s many Snapchat clones — appears to be stealing both users and high-profile celebs who can win attention among users.