A source at Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Limited has revealed that the popular ecommerce platform is planning to invest about $200 million in photo messaging application Snapchat. According to the source, the deal will help the company grow its mobile business.

According to reports of Bloomberg, the $200 million investment will value Snapchat at about $15 billion. The latest valuation for Snapchat is impressive considering the fact that it was offered $3 billion by Facebook in 2013.

People familiar with the matter said that the deal will help Alibaba improve its presence in the United States market this year. The move will allow American retailers a new way to sell to China's middle class.

Los Angeles-based Snapchat has more than 10 million users. The application allows users to send messages and photos that disappear in a few seconds. Earlier, it started carrying videos and articles from media outlets like CNN and ESPN, in an attempt to bring Snapchat into closer competition with social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.

According to some reports, Imran Khan was the person behind the deal who pushed Alibaba to invest in Snapchat. Khan was hired by the e-commerce giant in December as chief strategy officer. He is well known for the role he has played in Alibaba's record-breaking initial public offering in the United States that rose about US$25 billion fresh capital in September 2014.

The reports also stated that the move will be Snapchat's strongest attempt to make money from its service. The people familiar with the matter said that some of the material inside the discover section of the application includes advertising, which allow Snapchat and the media publisher to generate revenue.

Alibaba and Snapchat have not commented on the report.