This Catholic School Just Made $24M With Snapchat IPO

Snapchat’s IPO made a lot of people money, including its co-founders and a high school in Silicon Valley.

Private Catholic high school St. Francis in Silicon Valley, California, has made $24 million from the initial public offering of Snap Inc. shares.

According to the school’s president, the school will use the money for financial aid, professional development, teacher training and funding of school programs.

“I think everyone understands it’s a pretty transformational event for our school,” school president Simon Chiu said in an interview Friday.

None of the school’s nearly 1,800 students were involved in the investment venture, said the school’s president.

So how did a high school end up with this kind of money? The school’s board agreed to invest $15,000 in seed money into Snap back in 2012. It was a recommendation of Barry Eggers, a venture capitalist who was a parent of a student at the school.

Eggers works at capital venture firm Lightspeed Venture Partners. He also is the head of the school’s investment fund. Who else would he have learned about Snapchat from than his own teenage daughter.

The high school held their investment all these years and it paid off big this week. St. Francis sold 1.4 million shares at $17 a share on Thursday.

Their remaining 600,000 shares were worth $17 million when Snap soared to $29 on Friday morning.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP) and have not been compensated for this article.