Snapchat picks up Credit Suisse banker who led Alibaba’s float
SNAPCHAT made its money-making intentions clear yesterday with the appointment of a major investment banker from Credit Suisse.
Evan Spiegel, the 24-year-old founder of the hugely popular messaging app, has brought in heavy-hitter Imran Khan, formerly the head of investment at Credit Suisse who led the bank’s team on Alibaba’s $25bn (£15.9bn) float this year.
Khan will be Snapchat’s first chief strategy officer as the three-year-old startup builds an executive team after receiving investment that values the tech firm at up to $12bn.
The huge valuation, which would place it behind only Uber and Airbnb in the billion-dollar startup club, comes despite Snapchat’s current lack of revenue. Its only foray into money-making to date has been advertising, partnering with the likes of Universal Pictures and other brands keen to reach the app’s 100m active users, most of whom are in the much sought after teen and young adult demographic.
Khan’s previous experience aligns nicely with Snapchat, having advised on the floats of Weibo, Jumei, Alibaba and specialised in Chinese internet firms while an analyst at JP Morgan. Chinese internet giant Tencent is a Snapchat investor, along with Yahoo, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and others.