China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. made a move to lead a USD200 million fundraising round in US app maker Snapchat Inc. According to Wall Street Journal, this new investment may up the startup's value to around USD4 billion.

Silicon Valley Business Journals reports that the Chinese tech giant's decision to invest in Snapchat comes with the trend of Chinese companies funding Silicon Valley companies to gain foothold in the US market. Tencent's investment would put photomessaging app Snapchat at par with 24 other billion-dollar startups such as Pinterest and Dropbox in terms of valuation, the report said.

According to Bloomberg, Tencent has a subsidiary in Palo Alto. The company has been showing interest in SIlicon Valley for quite some time. It has also invested into several startups from Mountain View accelerator Y Combinator, Bloomberg's report said.

According to CB Insights, Chinese investors funding tech companies has already set a record pace in 2013.