The 23-year-old founder of the Snapchat messaging app has turned down a multi-billion euro windfall.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Evan Spiegal, who founded Snapchat two years ago, rejected a €2.2 billion cash offer from Facebook.

Snapchat is one of the most popular apps with 350 million messages sent every day. But it is heavily loss-making, has just a few dozen staff and no revenues.

It allows users to take a photo or video, send it to people & control how long they see it

The app allows users to exchange smartphone photos and videos that automatically disappear in 10 seconds or less and is popular with teenagers.

The company is currently trying to raise private funding and is estimated by some to be worth €3 billion.

The National Parents' Council has previously expressed concern about the application, saying it opens the floodgates to cyber-bullying and even paedophilia.

Main image: Snapchat founder Evan Spiegal