Snapchat Prepares for IPO, Drawing Developer Speculation

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal (not to mention the tech rumor mill), SnapChat is starting to close in on an IPO for as early as this coming March. It’s been a great year for tech IPOs, so app developers and investors are cautiously optimistic that the messaging and social media Unicorn could value well over the $20 billion benchmark, with reports from TechCrunch suggesting a figure over $25 billion.

The only concern for developers and investors is the company’s constant spending on acquisitions and new products. The Spectacles wearable, for example, is being priced at a point much lower expected based on manufacturing costs, presumably in an attempt to democratize the controversial product and overcome the elitism associated with Glass-type products thanks to Google Glass.

Acquisitions like their $100 million-plus deal with Bitmoji also raise eyebrows, although the company has certainly done a good job of proving that these moves only further entrench them as the de facto winner for the millennial crowd in the ultra-competitive social media space. The high retainers they’ve been able to charge major media companies like Comedy Central and Vice to broadcast over their platform, not to mention the high cost of sponsorships in filters and etc, promise enormous returns for the company in coming years — presuming no major competitor is able to pull out the rug for valuable millennial advertising targets.

Overall, it’s a promising IPO from one of Silicon Beach’s biggest tech presences, and an event that iPhone app developers in Los Angeles and across the world will be watching with great interest next year.

Snapchat has declined to comment on the filing of IPO paperwork, or any speculation about their monetization strategies.