Automattic, a US-based publisher of the WordPress.com website development platform, has raised $50m from hedge fund Tiger Global, in a secondary deal that provided liquidity to early company shareholders such as news provider New York Times Company (NYT).
Tiger valued Automattic “just below” the $1.1bn, according to news provider Fortune.
Matt Mullenweg, chief executive of Automattic, said: “the minority of stockholders that elected to participate are holding on to the vast majority of their shares.”
In January 2008, Automattic raised $29.5m from venture capital firms Polaris Partners, Radar Partners and True Ventures as well as the NYT.