Snapchat owner Snap Inc has launched its first event in London on Monday, looking to attract investors ahead of its floatation on the New York Stock Exchange.
Snap announced that it was looking to IPO earlier this month, after filing for inclusion on the New York Stock Exchange. The company was initially expected to be valued at between $20 and $5 billion, despite never having turned a profit. However its valuation was recently reduced to between $19.5 and $22.3 billion.
According to Reuters, Snap’s 26-year-old Chief Executive Evan Spiegel gave a strong presentation, with one potential investor adding that the “management did a good show – they were very convincing”.
The presentation included no demonstration of the company’s latest project, the Snap Spectacles, which launched in the US on Monday. The sunglasses are embedded with a video camera, which will record a continuous video of the user’s line of sight.
The Spectacles are the first tech gadget to come from the company, which in its Initial Public Offering filing describes itself as a “camera company” rather than a computer or internet business.
The app, founded by two students at Stanford University six years ago, has seen an unprecedented growth in users. Within months it had 40,000 users, and it now has around 158 million users daily. However, its lack of profit and scalable business model has led some potential investors to be wary of its longevity as an investment.