According to CEO Steve Huffman, Reddit has raised $200 million in its new venture funding and is now valued at $1.8 billion. This new funding is the company’s largest till date. It will assist a number of internal products of the San Francisco based online discussion platform. valuing
The company is going to improve the aesthetics of its home page and pave a way for user uploaded videos. Renowned investors from the silicon valley, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, individual investors like Y Combinator President Sam Altman (also a board member) and SV Angel’s Ron Conway, Coatue, investment firm Vy Capital and mutual fund giant Fidelity have put their money in this giant online platform. Except for Coatue, Vy Capital and Fidelity, all other companies owned a previous stake in the company. Advance Publications, which holds a majority stake in Reddit, didn’t take part in the funding.
In June, there were reports of the company being in talks to raise $150 million at a valuation of $1.7 billion.
Huffman, who had co-founded Reddit sold it to the publisher Condé Nast in 2006. Later, Advance Publication, Condé Nast’s parent company decided to spin Reddit as an independent company. Under the leadership of investor Altman, Reddit raised $50 million in 2014. Yishang Wong stepped down as the CEO of Reddit in late 2014 due to disagreement with the board. Ellen Pao, former Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers investor replaced him and stayed for just Eight months in the role. Huffman, the co-founder of the online travel company Hipmunk returned at the CEO of Reddit and has retained his position.
Reddit uses managed ads and self-serve ads to generate revenue. Since it doesn’t require much information from its registered users, the sale of these advertisements is difficult. With new advertisement formats and an inclusion of premium subscription service, the company is trying to concentrate on ways to improve its revenue.