Snapchat Is Working Toward a Massive $22 Billion IPO in March 2017

Snap Inc., known more popularly by its former name, Snapchat, is working on an IPO that may value the popular ephemeral messaging app at $25 billion. Slated for as early as late March, Snap’s debut would be the biggest IPO for a tech company since Alibaba went public for $168 billion in 2014. It would also be a big win for 26-year-old Evan Spiegel, who started Snapchat from his Stanford dorm and spurned Facebook’s paltry $3 billion bid back in 2013.

Snap has announced to investors that it is projected to make between $250 million and $350 million in advertising revenues this year, and as much as $1 billion in 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal. Snap generates income by selling advertisements that are inserted between the stories and video diaries created by its 150 million daily active users. It also allows companies to buy location- and event-based geofilters and lenses to market their wares.

The dramatic growth in ad buys since Snapchat first started running advertisements in 2014 has not only fueled its massive valuation, it’s also been attracting billions in private funding. Snap raised $1.81 billion in private funding earlier this year in May, based on an $18 billion to $22 billion valuation.

The company has also evolved in significant ways beyond changing its name. Snap has reconceived itself as a camera company and recently unveiled its own line of smart glasses, Spectacles.

The sunglasses with integrated video cameras make it easy create ‘Memories’ which you can transmit to Snapchat via Bluetooth, though Spiegel doesn’t see this product driving the company’s bottom line any time soon. They will only have “limited distribution” for the time being, according to Business Insider.