Shares in Snapchat’s parent company fell by almost a quarter on Wednesday night after the photo app reported a huge loss and disappointing user growth.

Snap Inc’s first set of results as a public company appeared to confirm many of the fears that have blighted it since its $24bn (£18.5bn) flotation in March.

The company reported a $2.2bn loss for the first quarter of the year, a deficit that was largely down to $2bn in staff bonuses triggered by the initial public offering.

But while the company was expected to report a heavy loss, investors were dismayed by slower-than-expected user numbers. The number of people using Snapchat every day increased by 36pc year on year to 166m, down from 47pc growth in the previous quarter.

It signed up 8m users in the last three months, fewer than analysts had been expecting.

Snapchat, which allows users to send photo and video messages to one another that disappear after a few seconds, is wildly popular among teenagers and young adults.

But investors have worried that Snapchat’s growth will stall as Facebook relentlessly targets the service’s audience. Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo sharing app, has cloned many of Snapchat’s features in recent months, and has already surpassed it in daily users.