Snapchat maker expands in London ahead of public offering

Snap recently posted nearly 20 job openings in London in areas including advertising, software engineering and legal, according to its website. The vacancies come after the company in February signed a 10year lease on a four-story, 12,570-square-foot (1,168square-meter) property in the UK capital. In October, Snap also opened an office in Paris for staff working on advertising and partnerships with Frenchlanguage media organisations.

International expansion is a natural next step for the five-year-old start-up as cofounder and Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel preps for the company’s expected initial public offering.

Claire Valoti, Facebook’s former head of agency relations in London, took over as Snap’s general manager for UK sales. More than 40 currently work in the London office. The France office is led by Emmanuel Durand, a former senior vicepresident at Warner Bros Entertainment.

Several other alumni from Facebook, Twitter and Google also have joined in recent months. Snap is adding engineering staff in London, led by Ricky Leatham, a former Amazon.com development manager. A spokeswoman for Snap confirmed the new hires.

The growing popularity of Snap’s photo-sharing app makes it one of the most anticipated technology IPOs in years. The listing, which may come as early as March, could value the social-media platform at $20 billion to $25 billion, people familiar with the offering have said.