Snap is rising after announcing new maps feature

Seth Archer

Jun 22, 2017, 20:47 IST

Snap announced a brand new location-based feature on Wednesday, and the stock is rising.

Shares of Snap are up 2.08% in early trading Thursday and are currently trading at about $17.64.

Snap announced "Snap Map" on Wednesday. The new feature allows users to look at a map of their friends' locations and click on location-based pins to see posts from that location. Shares did not initially react to the news but have started moving rapidly the morning after the announcement.

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The new feature mirrors a lot of French app Zenly's functionality. After the announcement of Snap Map, TechCrunch reported that Snap had acquired Zenly. According to TechCrunch, Snap bought the company for as much as $350 million in a mostly cash deal. It's not clear when the acquisition was completed.

Shares of Snap have generally been on the decline. The company recently hit its IPO price of $17, before rebounding slightly.

The company has struggled to innovate more than its competition. Competitors, like Facebook and Instagram, have been copying Snapchat features.

Snap has been crowdsourcing location-based content from users for while, mainly focusing on collecting content from events like concerts and sporting events. The company is now positioned to offer an additional advertising stream through location-based advertising in its maps features.

Shares of Snap are down 28.39% this year and have been on a constant decline since just days after its IPO. Investors are generally bearish on the stock, including Snap's own IPO underwriters.