Reddit will raise up to $700 million in a late-stage funding led by Fidelity Management and Research Company, the social media network said on Thursday, giving it a valuation of more than $10 billion.
In the ongoing round, it has already raised $410 million from Fidelity, thanks to its growing popularity as an online discussion forum.
Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum has been at the heart of a boom in trading by small-time stock market investors this year that has threatened Wall Street hedge funds and sent shares in companies including GameStop (GME.N) and AMC (AMC.N) soaring.
On the back of the trading frenzy, Reddit’s value doubled to $6 billion in February from a year ago as it raised more money to handle the rush of new subscribers.
In the second quarter, Reddit marked its first $100 million advertising revenue, an almost threefold jump from the same period last year.
The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2005 by Chief Executive Steve Huffman, entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian and the late Internet activist Aaron Swartz.
Its investors include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, funds such as Sequoia Capital, Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) and rap superstar Snoop Dogg.
Reddit has been investing to expand in the UK, Canada and Australia. As of January, it has more than 52 million daily active users and over a 100,000 communities.
