Is it time for brands to take Snapchat seriously?

It appears Snapchat’s star is rising.

The ephemeral picture- and video-sharing app has seemingly outgrown its frat house roots and shaken off the various scandals that weighed heavy on it in its infancy, to emerge as a viable platform for brands.

Just last week, reports indicated that Snapchat is seeking a new round of funding that would value to company at $19 billion, almost double its current valuation.

The company will use the cash injection to roll out a series of content features to turn Snapchat into more of a destination for entertainment, according to Bloomberg. Snapchat's recently launched Discover tool — backed by media organizations including Vice Media, CNN and Comedy Central — offers an inkling into this vision.

While the conversation around Snapchat in older circles tends to go something like: "No I haven’t tried Snapchat, and I don’t really see the point," a major and well-publicized draw for brands is its fast-growing teenage audience, particularly as Facebook’s cool factor wanes. Its active audience sends more than 700 million disappearing "snaps" and views more than 500 million stories a day, according to Snapchat.

Please click through to Campaign US for a discussion of the Snapchat platform, with input from Isobar US, BBH New York, Big Spaceship, DigitasLBi San Francisco and Tribal Worldwide New York.