Reddit Raises $300 Million At $3 Billion Valuation, With Tencent Now A Backer

Reddit, the social network that bills itself as “the front page of the Internet,” continued a recent growth spurt by raising $300 million in new funding from investors including China’s Tencent.

The Series D fundraising round values the company at $3 billion, a Reddit spokesperson confirmed to Deadline.

Executives will use the new funding to bolster the capabilities and functionality of the company’s platform as they seek to make it more friendly to advertisers. Among the participants in the latest round are Sequoia, Fidelity and Andreessen Horowitz.

Tencent, which owns 15% of Snap Inc. and 40% of Fortnite creator Epic Games, has put $150 million into Reddit.

Founded in 2005, Reddit has consistently drawn an avid, young core user base, with 50% of its 330 million monthly active users between ages 18-24. In recent years, the company has worked to clean up and professionalize its network, which has been a popular but rough-hewn and occasionally vitriolic setting that gave pause to some advertisers. The push appears to be achieving results, with the company’s ad revenue reportedly exceeding $100 million for the first time last year. (It doesn’t formally disclose ad revenue figures.)

Digital advertising remains dominated by Facebook and Google, but restive media buyers are increasingly interested in alternatives, especially given the issues on the duopoly platforms with brand safety and fraud. Reddit’s “Ask Me Anything” feature has long been a popular destination for political figures, celebrities, athletes and an array of others. Recently, though, the platform has boosted its video offerings and served as a broader promotional venue for the likes of Jordan Peele’s upcoming film Us and California Sen. Kamala Harris, who has thrown her hat in the 2020 presidential ring.

Steve Huffman, who co-founded Reddit, replaced Ellen Pao as CEO in 2015. Pao’s tenure as an executive, including an eight-month stint as CEO, was capped by a storm of protests by some “Redditors” after a handful of Reddit communities were banned due to hate speech. In a later op-ed for the Washington Post, Pao wrote that the ban wound up having a boomerang effect, subjecting her to “one of the largest trolling attacks in history.”