A Mountain View School Just Turned An Investment In Snapchat Into Millions of Dollars

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- A Catholic school in Silicon Valley has just turned a $15,000 investment in Snapchat into millions of dollars, thanks to the image messaging company's recent stock market launch.

Snapchat was first released by a group of ex-Stanford students in September 2011 as a selfie-sharing application. Months later, Barry Eggers, a Saint Francis High parent and founding partner in the venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, was intrigued as his two children returned home from school one day enthralled by the Snapchat app. After learning of the app's popularity and doing his due diligence, Eggers decided to invest in the company and invited Saint Francis to join him.

After pitching the idea to the school's Board of Directors, Eggers' company and the school wound up donating $500,000 in seed money to Snapchat -- $485,000 from Lightspeed and $15,000 from a Saint Francis High investment fund.

On March 2, Snapchat completed its initial public offering, or IPO, under which the company opened its shares for sale to the public. Overnight, Snapchat became valued at nearly $24 billion, with a price of $17 per share.

Although the school itself hasn't revealed how much it made during the IPO, estimates have ranged from $24 million to $40 million.

"Barry Eggers now joins the illustrious list of individuals and families whose foresight and generosity have enriched Saint Francis High School over the years," school President Simon Chiu said in a letter sent out to members of the Saint Francis community on Thursday, March 2. "These are exciting and humbling times for Saint Francis High School."

In his letter, Chiu said the millions will be invested and managed in order to make the largest impact on student, and that the money won't go toward supporting the school's annual operating expenses.

The return on this investment, Chiu said will allow the school to accelerate its goals of making Catholic education more affordable and accessible in the community, as well as recruit and retain faculty and staff and develop programs and facilities.

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