Snow, a photo app which recently revamped itself to focus on selfies, attracted a $50 million investment from SoftBank and Sequoia Capital China.

The app, which is owned by South Korea-based Naver, will use the funds to develop its augmented reality (AR) and facial recognition technology, TechCrunch reported. The app racked up downloads of over 200 million, with China its largest market, the news outlet added.

In January 2017 it reportedly had 40 million to 50 million monthly active users, though no updated figures are available.

The app was initially known as a Snapchat clone, with features localised for its Asian audience: Facebook even tried to acquire it in October 2016.

Now though the app ditched its chat service and moved its efforts to filters, stickers and AR features. Users can share their creations on other social networks and chat groups. It also offers a GIF maker and a feature similar to Instagram’s short video clip creator Boomerang.

The company behind Snow, Snow Corporation, also owns camera apps Foodie and B612, which it will likely push in China. The apps were acquired from Line, which also counts Naver as its parent.

In 2016, Line bought 25 per cent of Snow for $45 million and then upped its equity to 48.6 percent a few months later.