US-based visual-based social network Pinterest has raised $200m in a series F round that values it at $5bn.
The round was led by SV Angel, and also featured Bessemer Venture Partners, Fidelity Investments, Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital and Valiant Capital Partners, the five investors that backed its $225m series E round in October 2013.
Founded in 2009, Pinterest has now raised $764m, with Japan-based e-commerce company Rakuten among the investors in its $100m series C round in 2012. Pinterest’s $5bn valuation marks a substantial increase from its series E, which reportedly valued it at about $3.8bn.
Pinterest is a social blogging site where users can collect and share visual ideas for interests or personal projects, ‘pinning’ them on to a virtual board.
The company plans to use the funds to expand the site, at the same time boosting its international user base, and to advance a recently initiated programme to generate advertising revenue from the site. It will also seek to tweak the design to help users find what they want more easily.
“Pinterest has a vision of solving discovery and helping everyone find things they’ll love,” said CEO Ben Silbermann. “This new investment gives us additional resources to realise our vision.”