Pinterest raises $100 million in funding: WSJ

Pinterest, the increasingly popular online bulletin board, raised $100 million in a financing round that values the U.S. start-up at $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with ...

Japanese online giant Rakuten announced Thursday it was leading a $100 million investment in Pinterest, a fast-growing US bulletin-board style social media website.Rakuten said it was joining with existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital, and "a number of angel investors.""The funding will allow Pinterest to continue improving its service and expanding its community globally," a statement said.

Pinterest, a site for sharing and discovering images, has sold $200 million in stock to new and current investors for less than 10 percent of the company, valuing it at $2.5 billion, the company just confirmed to Business Insider.

Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc.

Pinterest, which allows users to share photographs, recipes and other media on custom "pinboards," raised $100 million in a funding round led by the Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.