Social news website and the self-proclaimed ‘front page of the internet; Reddit, has revealed that it is now valued at more than $10 billion after raising a fresh $410 million in funding.
The latest funding round was led by Fidelity Investments, and it increased Reddit’s valuation from the $6 billion it achieved six months ago when it raised $250 million.
Reddit said it anticipated the participation of existing investors in the latest financing as well, which will likely cause the round to grow up to $700 million.
Steve Huffman, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Reddit revealed that the latest financing wasn’t planned, but that they were made an offer by Fidelity investments which they couldn’t refuse.
He also said that while Reddit is planning on going public, the company does not have a firm timeline there yet, remarking that “all good companies should go public when they can.”
The virtual town square of the consumer internet makes most of its money from advertising on the site but has to compete against digital advertising giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, as well as other ad-based social networking sites, including Twitter, Snap, and Pinterest.
“We’ve grown up in the shadow of Facebook and Google, and pretty much every dollar we make we’ve had to fight for,” Steve Huffman said.
Still, Reddit is growing its business at a rather rapid pace and improving its features, as well as advertising products. Reddit surpassed $100 million in quarterly revenue for the first time in the second quarter this year, up 192 percent year-over-year. Roughly, 52 million people now visit Reddit daily, and the site has more than 100,000 active subreddits. Earlier this year, the company said it planned to double its staff count by the end of 2021 to around 1,400 employees.
The company has also taken a serious approach towards making sure that the platform is free and appropriate for all to use; it has removed racist, misogynist, and otherwise controversial communities, and also enacted new policies that make it more difficult for trolls to overrun the forums.
According to Reddit Chief Executive Officer, Steve Huffman, the new funding will be directed towards improving the site’s features and making the site easier for newcomers to use,
Reddit is also building its self-service advertising system, with which it aims to attract small and medium-size business marketers. Steve Huffman said he plans to change the US-focused nature of Reddit and expand the platform internationally.
Currently, the company’s priority is to improve Reddit; “the priority is just making Reddit awesome. We want to build what is best for new users because over time it will be best for everyone,” Steve Huffman said.
