Snapchat ​aims to raise $4 bn in IPO

US-based instant messaging app Snapchat is reportedly planning to raise as much as $4 billion in its initial share sale.

According to a report in Bloomberg, the initial public offering (IPO) could value Snapchat, owned by Snap Inc., as high as $40 billion.

The report added that,  according to people with knowledge of the development, no final decision had been made and the size of the IPO might change. Snapchat is preparing filings and might list itself in the first quarter of next year in the US.

The firm, founded by Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, has chosen investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as lead bankers for the IPO.

Morgan Stanley was also the banker for tech giant Facebook's IPO four years ago. Snapchat is an app through which people can share photos, videos and chat with friends.

Earlier this year, Snapchat in a Series F round of funding raised $1.8 billion. Investors in the round, according to TechCrunch, included General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital, T Rowe Price and Fidelity among others.

According to the same report in TechCrunch, the company's revenue stood at $59 million in 2015.

It also said that the app had 110 million active users as of December 2015 compared with 74 million in 2014.

Snapchat shot to fame after it reportedly refused an all-cash $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook in 2013.