14 DAY TRIAL // Pinterest has managed to raise another $200 million (€145 million) in venture funding, putting its total value at an estimated $5 billion (€3.65 billion), double than it was less than a year ago.
Forbes notes that up until now, Pinterest has managed to attract $764 million (€557 million) in funding and the numbers seem to be growing along with the interest shown by users. In 2013 alone, Pinterest raised $425 million (€310 million) in two rounds of funding from venture capitalists, more than any other tech firm, while the valuation following the last funding round was estimated at $3.8 billion (€2.77 billion).
In fact, the online platform has a lot more users nowadays, and their interest is constantly growing. The number of images pinned to the site grew by 50 percent in the past six months, reaching 30 billion.
The investors in Pinterest’s latest funding round include SV Angel, Fidelity, Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Despite how well things have been going, Pinterest hasn’t exactly monetized on its popularity, opening up to advertisers only recently. Earlier this week, Pinterest has introduced Promoted Pins, for which users and advertisers can pay. These appear in users’ search and category feeds.
Some brands will also join in the party. “These brands will help us test Promoted Pins to make sure they’re tasteful, transparent, relevant and improved based on your feedback— so that Pinterest continues to be a great experience for everyone,” the company’s Product Manager, Julie Black, said.
Most of Pinterest’s users are women, as eMarketer data shows. Some 85 percent of Pinterest users from the United States are ladies. Last year, there were some 35 million monthly users in the United States alone, and forecasts indicate that the number will hike to 40 million this year.
Outside the United States, users account for some 30 percent of the total Pinterest userbase. The company has even opened dedicated offices in the UK, France and Japan.
The new money should come in handy for Pinterest to help it build new features for the site. The company’s plans include allowing users to create their own labels for items they have saved, an alternative to letting them choose from the few dozen categories that Pinterest has preset.
The sharp rise in value is quite impressive, especially for a company as young as Pinterest and in the current environment in the tech industry and more specifically, the increased pressure from companies such as Twitter on the stock market.