Powerful Friends Help Twitter to $1 Billion
Investment firms line up for social networking's march to $1 billion
By SAJID FAROOQ
Updated 10:11 AM EDT, Fri, Sep 25, 2009
Twitter is reportedly worth $1 billion but the San Francisco-based microblogging site didn't get there without friends.
The popular social networking site is closing a round of financing valued at close to $100 million, including investors Insight Venture Partners and T. Rowe Price, according to the New York Times. Early Twitter investors Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners are reportedly throwing money into the latest pot of funding as well.
The microblogging site has soared to astronomical popularity in just under four years of existence. Twitter boasted 54.7 million unique visitors as of August. To compare, Facebook has just over 300 million users. The company has used its popular to fend off overtures from tech giants Google and Microsoft.
The New York-based Venture Partners has raised more than $3 billion for up and coming companies. Its portfolio includes DataCore Software and Divx. T. Rowe Price has a long history in investing in companies and maintains over $315.6 billion in assests.
And it's not like the company is hurting for money.The Times reported Twitter raised $55 million and says it has only spent $25 million of that cash. The company has quadrupled its value in less than a year when it was last valued at $250 million in February. This while Twitter still does not have a clear cut revenue making plan.
First Published: Sep 24, 2009 7:03 PM EDT on NBC Bay Area
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
