What is the parent company of Snapchat called?

Snap Inc. is the parent company of Snapchat. The company began as Snapchat Inc. in 2011 and changed its corporate name to Snap Inc. in September 2016.

Snap Inc. operates Snapchat as its flagship social-media and messaging product, but the company’s business extends beyond the app. Its products and services have included Spectacles smart glasses, Bitmoji, and augmented-reality tools. The broader name reflected the company’s ambition to develop hardware and other technologies alongside Snapchat.

The name can be confusing because Snapchat was once also used as the corporate name. In everyday conversation, people still often say “Snapchat” when they mean either the app or the company behind it. Snap Inc. is the formal corporate parent and the publicly traded entity.

Snap Inc. was founded by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown. It became a public company in 2017, several months after adopting the Snap Inc. name.