Pinterest raising money for $2.5B valuation

Rumor mill says Pinterest is raising more cash after it just raised $100M in May

In case you hadn’t heard, Pinterest is like, a thing now. People are planning some pretty elaborate imaginary weddings, judging from my friends’ pins.

Pinterest’s growth has been all sorts of crazy, and the company has been scrambling to keep up. Now it looks like they’re ready to take it to the next level: Pinterest is reportedly raising a round of funding for a valuation of $2-$2.5 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Evidently, a deal has yet to be made, according to WSJ’s sources, but I doubt the company will be hard-pressed to find investors.

Pinterest is one of the more remarkable success stories of the startup world. Launched in 2010, the site has grown at a phenomenal rate. In February 2012, Pinterest reached 10 million users, faster than any other stand-alone site in history. Last year, it saw a user increase of 1,047% among its PC users, and an increase of 1,698% among its mobile app users, according to Nielsen. For those visiting the site from the mobile Web, usage skyrocketed 4,225%, compared to 85% for Facebook and 140% for Twitter.

A Pew report recently revealed that 12% of the U.S. adult population is now on Pinterest. Among women, that number skyrockets to one in five. Global user visits exploded to 48 million visits in December 2012, compared to just nine million the year before, according to comScore.

With stats like that, it’s no wonder everyone suddenly wants to be Pinterest, with newbies and veterans alike getting in on the action. Notably, eBay—one of the first e-commerce players on the Web—redesigned its layout to be more Pinterest-like. Similarly, Facebook introduced its new Collections feature, which is essentially a Pinterest within Facebook. It’s also traversing a wide range of verticals, from shopping, food, and crafts to news and content. 

Pinterest declined to comment on the report.

The company is coming off of a busy holiday season. In November, the company launched its new secret boards feature, which allows users to create boards that only certain users can see. Shortly thereafter, Pinterest launched its new business accounts, which come with specific buttons and widgets to engage users.

In January, the company made its first acquisition: food porn/recipe site Punchfork.

Pinterest raised a $100 million round of funding back in May from Rakuten, Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Does the new round mean that Pinterest has already blown through that money? If so, that speaks to some pretty steep growth. 

Image source: searchenginejournal.com