NEW YORK (AFP) - Snapchat, the vanishing-image service, is seeking to raise venture capital in a deal that would value the startup at US$19 billion (S$25.8 billion), The New York times reported on Wednesday.
The financing round could provide Snapchat with US$500 million, the paper said, quoting a person with knowledge of the discussions.
If it obtains that amount, the privately held company's valuation would shoot to US$19 billion - nearly double the figure from a year ago.
Last year, the firm held financing talks on the basis of the company's value being assessed at US$10 billion, the Times added.
The company was formed by three Stanford University students in 2011.
The deal would make Snapchat one of the highest-valued startups in the world.
That valuation of Snapchat would near that of WhatsApp, the instant message service that Facebook acquired last year for nearly US$22 billion.
In 2013, Snapchat rejected a US$3-billion takeover from Facebook, the Times recalled.