Online scrapbook Pinterest has raised a new $200 million round of
funding that gives it a valuation of $2.5 billion, the company said on
Wednesday.
Pinterest, which allows users to create online bulletin
boards based on various themes such as travel, decorating, or sports,
said in a statement it would use the new capital to build new features,
beef up its infrastructure, and make "strategic acquisitions of both
talent and technology."
Long-short hedge fund Valiant led the
investment round, joined by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz,
Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital. Valiant has invested in
several consumer-Internet companies in the past, including search
engines Google and Baidu.
News of the funding round was first reported by AllThingsD.
Pinterest
is part of a group of start-ups that offer twists on Internet
networking among various groups. They typically have little discernable
profit or revenue, but have landed some outsized investments from
venture capitalists.
The group includes private social-network
Path, which raised $30 million at a valuation of $250 million last year;
question-and-answer site Quora, which raised $50 million at a $400
million valuation last year; and microblogging service Twitter, which
raised $400 million in new funding and another $400 million to buy out
existing investors at an $8 billion valuation in 2011.
Since
Facebook Inc's May initial public offering, which saw the stock fall far
below its offer price before rebounding in recent months, many
investors have cooled on consumer-focused Internet companies.
But
Pinterest's rapid growth since its 2010 launch may make it an exception.
It now has 48.7 million users globally, according to consultancy
comScore.
The company last raised money in May 2012 at a $1.5 billion valuation in a round led by Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten Inc.
© Thomson Reuters 2013