Snapchat is going public.
According to multiple outlets, Snap Inc. has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission that begin its march toward an Initial Public Offering that could happen as early as March 2017. This has the potential to be a hugely valuable move for Snap, providing a massive influx of new capital as well as officially solidifying the company as a multi-billion dollar entity. It would also be a big moment for the young company that has shrugged off acquisition offers from the likes of tech titans such as Facebook, which reportedly made a $3 billion cash offer for the service last year.
This huge boost in capital will allow the company to move forward more quickly with some of its more innovative initiatives including its forays into augmented reality. Snapchat is many people’s first exposure to AR through the face-swap and reality bending filters available through the application. Snap Inc. also recently released Specatacles, a pair of stylish sunglasses that is getting us all used to wearing cameras on our faces. Backed up by the cash that an IPO would bring in for Snap, these projects could get the shot in the arm they need to continue popularizing AR in bigger and better ways.
https://youtu.be/XqkOFLBSJR8
Finally, the word Twitter-esque comes to mind in light of these most recent developments. The little-blue-bird company also rode a wave of unprecedented popularity and gargantuan adoption numbers into an IPO of its own last year. That organization also refused Mark Zuckerberg’s best efforts at acquisition, and is currently facing many of the monetization problems that Snapchat will likely find itself wrestling with in a year or two’s time.
