California high school makes $24M in Snapchat IPO

A private Catholic high school in California's Silicon Valley has made millions of dollars from the initial public offering of shares in Snap Inc., the company behind the Snapchat photo messaging app.

The board of the Saint Francis high school in Mountain View, Calif., agreed to invest $15,000 US in seed money in Snap in 2012, when the company was just getting started.

They had been invited to do so by one of the student's parents, a venture capital investor, high school president Simon Chiu said in a letter issued to the school community on Thursday.

The school held onto the investment until this week, when Snap shares sold for $17 each in an IPO. Saint Francis sold 1.4 million shares at that price, generating a gain of about $24 million.

• Shares in Snapchat owner jump 44% on 1st day of trading

The stock has since soared to about $29 as of Friday morning, making the remaining 600,000 shares that the school owns worth roughly $17 million.

"I think everyone understands it's a pretty transformational event for our school," Chiu said in an interview with The Associated Press.

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

Chiu said the school will use the windfall for financial aid, professional development, teacher training and funding of school programs.