This is nothing like a Ponzi scheme, which is where new investments are used to pay off old investments, and investors are kept in the dark. Old investors get n

This is nothing like a Ponzi scheme, which is where new investments are used to pay off old investments, and investors are kept in the dark. Old investors get nothing additional from this kind of deal besides maybe a chance to liquidate a small portion of their shares at each round. It also doesn't actually mean the company is worth $19B if you say, compare it to a public corporation. There's a huge difference. It's still a highly speculative investment, which is why they're not public. If Snapchat was to go public today, Wall Street would likely eat them alive. This just means that some venture capitalists can be convinced to buy something like 2.5% of the company for something like $475M.