Snapchat Inc. will “soon” debut its first ads to the app as the company sets out to prove its US$10 billion valuation, reports said on Wednesday.

During the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, Evan Spiegel, the 24-year-old co-founder and CEO of Snapchat, announced that people are going to see the first ads on the free messaging app soon.

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The company's new service for disappearing content and ads called Snapchat Discovery is expected to launch this year, reports confirmed.

Based on some sources, the disappearing ads will be the first source of revenue for the popular mobile app.

Along with Yahoo, other venture firms like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has also committed to invest in Snapchat, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Spiegel said the ads will appear within the company’s “stories” feature, and will be optional to view by users. Snapchat made it clear that “ads would not be targeted at users.”

According to Spiegel, having people opt into viewing advertising is “more effective” than using any data that Snapchat may collect about its users to target ads.

The company is “cutting through a lot of the new technology stuff around ads to sort of the core of it: telling a story that leaves people with a new feeling,” he added.

In an interview, Spiegel did not specify when ads would appear in Snapchat Stories or discuss his plans for Snapchat Discovery, reports said.

Tagssnapchat, web messenger, chat messenger, Ads