The owner of Snapchat has set the valuation on its initial public offering at between between $16.2bn and $18.5bn (£13bn - £14.8bn), significantly below expectations of between $20bn and $25bn, the BBC has reported.

The price would still make put the float among could the largest technology offerings of the past decade.

The maker of disappearing-photo application Snapchat is valuing its shares at $14 to $16 on a diluted basis, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. It could be the biggest technology IPO since Alibaba raised a record $25bn in 2014.

Snap is the first US social-media company to go public since Twitter debuted more than three years ago. Next up for Snap is the roadshow, where management will travel to cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York to pitch the stock to prospective investors. Snap’s revenue climbed sixfold last year to $404.5m, compared with $58.7m in 2015. Net losses widened to $514.6m from $372.9m in that period.

While management is sure to tout its revenue increases, Snap may face questions about its user growth, which slowed in the second half of 2016. By the fourth quarter, average daily active user growth fell below 50 pe rcent in those three months for the first time since at least 2014, according to the deal prospectus.

A representative of Snapchat declined to comment.