Just after GameStop frenzy, Reddit raises over $250mn in funding

Reddit, the social news aggregation platform that has become the talk of the town since GameStop stock market saga has raised over $250 million in Series E funding.

“We have raised more than $250 million in Series E funding from existing and new investors. We decided that now was the right opportunity to make strategic investments in Reddit including video, advertising, consumer products, and expanding into international markets,” the company announced in a blog post.

Just two weeks ago, Reddit foud itself in the center of a social media hyped trading hysteria, with GameStop and other companies including cinema operator AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc and headphone maker Koss have seen wild gyrations in their stocks as amateur investors on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum acted in concert to bid up stocks that some U.S. funds had bet against.

The rally catapulted GameStop shares to as high as $483 on Jan. 28 from around $20 a couple of weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, Reddit informed that with the latest dose of investment, the company will hire more employees.

“We are also readying to double the number of Reddit employees this year; it’s surprising not only for the pace of growth but also that such a relatively lean team has been behind one of the most visited websites in the world. We are confident in our mission to provide community and belonging to everyone and are well-positioned for the growth we have planned,” it said.

Talking about its financial side, Reddit said that it has come a long way in recent years to focus more on the needs of the hundreds of thousands of communities that make up Reddit and on creating feature-rich, safe, engaging, spaces for meaningful conversations for our 50+ million daily users.

“Advertisers have responded favorably to our efforts and the authenticity of community on Reddit, with direct advertising revenue increasing 90 percent in the last quarter, year-over-year,” it informed.