These are buzzy days for BuzzFeed, indeed.
VentureBeat reports the seven-year-old viral media startup is raising some $200 million in its latest funding round, which puts the company on track to be one of the most highly valued new media properties in the industry.
“If BuzzFeed does raise $200 million, it’s more than likely that the valuation could approach the billion-dollar range, and it may very soon be New York City’s next member of the billion-dollar club,” said analyst Matthew Turlip, data firm PrivCo, which tracks privately held companies. (The Wall Street Journal’s running tally of billion-dollar-plus startup valuations doesn’t yet list BuzzFeed.)
Known for its blend of catchy, GIF-laden listicles and serious news, BuzzFeed would be raising more than 10 times its previous round of $19 million last year, when the company was valued at roughly $200 million. A quick chart of some other media startup funding rounds puts things in perspective:
A recent story by Quartz on other media company valuations also offers a good bit of context on where BuzzFeed ranks among its peers. VentureBeat points out that BuzzFeed boasts an audience of 130 million unique visitors, as of last November, but it also recently lost its longtime chief operating officer and president Jon Steinberg to the UK’s Daily Mail.
Raising a boatload of cash probably helps soothe the pain.