Reddit red hot at $6B

Reddit has doubled its valuation to $6 billion as the social network’s role in the recent stock-market revolution thrust it into the spotlight.

San Francisco-based Reddit said Monday that it raised more than $250 million in additional funding from a group of new and existing investors led by venture-capital firm Vy Capital.

Reddit had a $3 billion valuation after its previous funding round in February 2019.

“We decided that now was the right opportunity to make strategic investments in Reddit including video, advertising, consumer products and expanding into international markets,” Reddit said in a blog post announcing the financing.

Reddit had been growing even before its WallStreetBets message board upended Wall Street last month by driving up the stock prices of GameStop and other unloved companies.

The firm — whose investors include Silicon Valley’s Andreessen Horowitz and Chinese tech giant Tencent — said it now has more than 50 million daily users and its direct-advertising revenue grew 90 percent in the last quarter compared to the prior year. Reddit also said it’s getting set to double the size of its workforce.

CEO Steve Huffman told The Wall Street Journal Reddit was taking advantage of a hot market for startup funding.

“Valuations are very high right now,” Huffman said. “It never hurts to raise money when there’s an opportunity to do so and Reddit had a strong year.”

Reddit also took out a fivesecond Super Bowl ad that paid tribute to the WallStreetBets forum.