Snapchat is facing challenges as it files officially for an initial public offering, according to new statistics released today. The stats show that Snapchat’s growth has slowed to sloth-like proportions, dropping 82% over the year.
2016 began as a great year for Snapchat, showing 14% and 17.2% growth rate in Q1 and Q2, respectively. However, with the introduction of Instagram Stories, essentially a clone of Snapchat that operated within the already-existing Instagram app, that growth rate slowed; between Q3 and Q4, Snapchat only gained 5 million daily users, a growth of merely 3.2%.
As TechCrunch points out, it’s impossible to determine if this slow in growth is a direct cause of Instagram Stories, but the correlation is strong. Instagram Stories already has more daily active users that Snapchat after only launching last August – and with added support from advertisers and parent company Facebook, it has a more robust base, as well. 
Snapchat still holds the reigns on the younger generation of users, allegedly, that are able to grow with the company and its advertisers within the discovery feature. But Instagram chief financial officer David Wehner claims that just as many millennials are on Instagram, and they’re getting even better at targeting them.
“Instagram is obviously another great place to reach Millennials, and we continue to build our products to serve a wide variety of audiences, including Millennials as well.”
Snap, Inc. officially filed for IPO today, hoping to raise $3 billion. The IPO would reportedly value the company above $20 billion.
However, the filing wasn’t exactly hopeful in its rhetoric. Multiple references to slow growth and dismal numbers regarding daily active users aren’t instilling a lot of trust in possible shareholders, suggesting that it could be an uphill battle.
Snap’s daily active user grown went from single digit to flat last year. Wow. That is not a good growth story. It’s the opposite. pic.twitter.com/ydkzFVdad6
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) February 2, 2017
via Verge, TechCrunch, QZ
