Snapchat has raised $485 million in a new round of funding, putting a $10 billion valuation on the U.S. messaging startup.

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows 23 investors took part in the round of funding, the largest round in Snapchat's history. Investors included Yahoo! and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to Bloomberg.

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Previously, Snapchat had been valued at $4 billion, but has doubled in value over the year to $10 billion. The company rejected a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook a little over last year, and it looks like that was the right decision.

Snapchat went from 100 million active monthly users in 2013 to 200 million in 2014, and is showing more growth as it moves into more markets.

Even though Snapchat is still a sitting duck when it comes to revenue, hence the round of funding, it is starting to pull the strings to make it a secure company in the future.

The 20-second Ouija advert has shown the ability for Snapchat to offer video advertisement. Snapchat also released SnapCash, a way for users to send money to friends on the service - adding a credit or debit card to the service.

Having a card ready could be a good foundation for the future, as Snapchat looks into becoming a digital media service, offering music, videos and news, alongside the messaging platform.

These plans were exposed in the Sony Pictures leak, Snapchat's CEO Evan Spiegel spoke to Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton about becoming a digital media service, something Spiegel is "devastated" about having leaked.

Snapchat has not been plain sailing through 2014, a Federal Trade Commission investigation into storing photos for longer than advertized resulted in a change in rules on Snapchat, following the release of thousands of pictures in the SnapSaved leak.

In order to make sure this doesn't happen again, Snapchat is reportedly shutting down a variety of third-party apps using the Snapchat API, to make sure photos are secure.

Tagssnapchat, messaging, capital ventures