Snapchat Reportedly Close To Raising $100 Million At A $500 Million Valuation

Snapchat, a photo sharing app, is reportedly nearing a $100 million fundraise at an eye-popping $500 million valuation.

Om Malik at Gigaom has the scoop.

According to Malik, Snapchat has been "fielding funding overtures from a lot of usual suspects in Silicon Valley" but it has picked a non-traditional investor to lead its round. There's a secondary component to the round as well, says Malik.

Snapchat isn't just some toy for techies. It's proved it has staying power, jumping from 20 million photos uploaded per day last October to 150 million now. That's more daily uploads than Instagram, which Facebook purchased last year for $1 billion (or $700 million once the stock dropped). That fact helps justify the jarring half-a-billion valuation Snapchat may be receiving.

The Los Angeles-based app is definitely on Facebook's radar. Late last year, Mark Zuckerberg met with the two 20-something founders of Snapchat, then tried to duplicate it with his own app, Poke. Poke immediately flopped while Snapchat charged on.