Report: Snapchat Raising $200 Million From Alibaba at $15 Billion Valuation The Chinese ecommerce giant is reportedly eyeing expansion into overseas markets as well as social networking.

By Geoff Weiss

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is poised to tender a $200 million investment in Snapchat that would value the ephemeral photo messaging service at $15 billion.

While Snapchat was also said to be eyeing a $500 million funding round at a $19 billion valuation last month, Bloomberg reports that Alibaba's investment would be outside of that round.

Though investors are clamoring for a piece of Snapchat, the company's CEO, Evan Spiegel, has refused to comment on fundraising initiatives. "We are famous for not talking about the future," he quipped at a tech summit in Santa Monica, Calif., earlier this week.

Related: Why Snapchat Is Worth $19 Billion (Or More)

The Alibaba deal, were it to go through, would place Snapchat just behind Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi and car-booking platform Uber as the third highest-valued startup in the world. Valuations for Xiaomi and Uber have been pegged at $45 billion and $40 billion, respectively.

And this is not the first time that Alibaba has reportedly considered an investment in Snapchat. Last summer, before its record-shattering IPO, Alibaba was said to be considering an investment in Snapchat that would value the company at $10 billion. Though Alibaba ultimately passed at the time, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers invested $20 million in Snapchat for a 1 percent stake at a $10 billion valuation.

Renewed interest by Alibaba reveals a desire to expand into overseas markets and into social networking, analysts told Bloomberg. Last March, Alibaba invested $215 million in Tango, a free messaging platform with social networking features.

Related: Martha Stewart and Jack Ma Powwow About Global Domination

Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

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