Snapchat picks London for international headquarters

Evan Spiegel isn’t worried about Brexit.

The 26-year-old CEO of Snap Inc. — which runs the disappearing-photo app Snapchat — has chosen London as the startup’s international headquarters.

Snap’s move — a bid to capitalize on the UK’s creative industries — runs counter to the tax-avoiding European strategies long pursued overseas by Apple, Facebook, Uber and Google.

Indeed, Silicon Valley has lately caught static from authorities after setting up offices in tax havens like Ireland and the Netherlands.

“I am happy to confirm that the UK is the Snap Inc. family’s hub outside the US,” a Snap spokeswoman said.

Snap has about 75 workers in the UK, up from six a year ago and is looking to add a nearby site to its office in London’s Soho district, she added.

“The UK is where our advertising clients are, where more than 10 million daily Snapchatters are, and where we’ve already begun to hire talent,” said Claire Valoti, general manager of Snap’s UK operations, in a statement.

Snapchat says it has more than 150 million daily active users, including 50 million in Europe.

Snap’s UK entity will book revenues from customers in the UK and countries where there is no local entity or sales force. Its only other European entity is in Paris.

In November, Snap reportedly filed confidential paperwork for an initial public offering valuing the messaging platform at more than $20 billion.