back to article Pinterest valued at $1.5 BILLION, bags $100m in funding

Cupcake and kitten-laden photo site Pinterest has bagged $100m in funding from a bunch of investors led by Japanese online retailer Rakuten. Rakuten said today that it was heading up the multimillion-dollar handout with help from existing Pinterest investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital …

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  1. Rob
    Go

    Waiting...

    ... for that next dot com bubble to burst. These ridiculous valuations are just unsustainable.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Re: Waiting...

      Too much paper money looking for interest, ANY interest. A certain percentage of that money is your pension fund.

      Meanwhile, interest rates are kept low, low, low and money gushes out of central banks like coke out of a colombian drug outfit.

  2. John Burton

    But what's it for?

    Can someone tell me what pinterest is for? I've so far been able to work out anything useful it does that you couldn't do just as well before?

    1. Code Monkey

      Re: But what's it for?

      Pictures of cakes and kittens as far as I can tell.

      1. Code Monkey
        Windows

        Re: But what's it for?

        ... and I don't understand how all those buns and kittens add up to $1.5bn before anyone asks

    2. Francis Irving
      WTF?

      Re: But what's it for?

      I use it to for interior design. I pin photos of a room, and products I'm thinking of buying to put in it, e.g. new curtains, paint colours etc. Others do the same thing for clothes. Basically it is a visual delicious, so just as useful as a bookmarking site, but more fun/comprehensible to non-geeks.

      It is based on a popular US hobby called pinboarding. It is very popular, 80% of US users of pinterest are women.

      As for commercials... They get lots of intent driven sales click throughs. http://www.shopify.com/blog/6058268-how-pinterest-drives-ecommerce-sales

      The obvious business model is the same as Google's. Steal other people's content, let users organise it for you for free, then charge other people to get the resultant clicks.

      Given all of the above, it seems a reasonable valuation.

      1. John 104

        Re: But what's it for?

        Thanks for the explanation. however, I still don't see how a site like that is worth over a billion. Seems pretty pointless to me...

        1. DF118

          Re: But what's it for?

          Good explanation, although I would conclude differently. If it's an operation whose shtick is basically ripping off other people's content (and no doubt stripping EXIF/copyright info in the process... just checked - yep that's exactly what they do) then the valuation is an utter sham.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: But what's it for?

      Is it where people with no aesthetics post their Instagram horrors?

  3. Anomynous Coward

    Play

    "snapping up the UK's Play.com last year for $39.3m"

    This seems a remarkably low figure to me (particularly in light of Pinterest's valuation) as play.com is an excellent domain name, it's turnover must be ten time that price and it has every opportunity to expand.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. I think so I am?
      Coat

      Re: Play

      Its because it has a calculable revenue stream so people can't BS the price into the stratosphere.

      My coats the one with realist on the back

      1. Code Monkey

        Re: Play

        That's true, though having Amazon as your main competitor would knock any company's valuation.

  4. Cosmo
    WTF?

    Sod it - I'm starting a social network

    Some sort of social network. Any sort of social network. If they're gonna throw crazy money around then I might as well cash in before the bottom falls out of it.

    1. Luke McCarthy

      Re: Sod it - I'm starting a social network

      Here's an idea. punterest - a site where cranky old sods can exchange puns

      1. Magnus_Pym

        Re: Sod it - I'm starting a social network

        more a sort of anti-social media site?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sod it - I'm starting a social network

        I think you'll find that punterest would mean something else entirely, while I wouldn't look into it now as it's defo nsfw, but "to punt" is common internet slang for enguaging the services of a lady of the night.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sod it - I'm starting a social network

        With the Reg's carefully honed target demographic may I suggest pubterest - a virtual boozer/tech forum/Paris Hilton fansite.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sod it - I'm starting a social network

        How about punternet.com? Oh, looks like that's already taken...

        Anon, in case the wife is looking!

  5. g e
    FAIL

    HAHAHAHHAHAHA

    That is all

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A site that became large because of massive copyright infringement. I wonder how they plan to monetize intellectual property that doesn't belong to them.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Same way as Google?

    2. Ian 55
      Facepalm

      It's the new way to become rich

      Start a site based on copyright infringements, and sell up before you get sued out of existence. See YouTube for the classic example.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good article on the copyright issues at stake:

    http://mansurovs.com/pinterest-copyright-infringement-made-cool

    Pinterest needs to make an image fingerprinting scheme... so if images are resized or slightly cropped, they can't be uploaded again if they are taken down. It's not a terribly hard programming problem and it would solve the concerns of many. Better yet if they let photographers preemptively add their photos to the "no upload" database so we don't have to go searching for infringements.

    1. Pen-y-gors
      Thumb Down

      No, no, no...

      I shouldn't have to add my photos to a 'do not steal' database to stop people stealing them - I don't have to add my TV or car to a 'do not nick' database. My photos are copyright unless I say they aren't!

      Given the impossibility of stopping copyright rip-off ina dvance, the obvious alternative is for Pinterest to agree to pay ($100 a go?) for any copyright photos that appear on the site without authorisation.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: No, no, no...

        That isn't going to happen for the same reason it doesn't happen on other user-generated content sites like Youtube. At least a database would give us a means to deal with it without wasting our time.

      2. JEDIDIAH
        Linux

        Re: No, no, no...

        > I shouldn't have to add my photos to a 'do not steal' database to stop people stealing them

        Sounds like old school copyright really.

        Having a default of "this is not owned" really was a far less anti-social setup.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: No, no, no...

        > I don't have to add my TV or car to a 'do not nick' database.

        True, but if you leave the driver's door open, the keys in the ignition and the engine running in the middle of London, you might be politely called "negligent."

        Do not put stuff you don't want people to take in a place where they can take it. Especially if its impossible to tell if they have taken it or not, until after it has gone.

        Wasn't that lesson #1 when you first wanted to take toys to school?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: No, no, no...

          Some of us make a living from things that we promote online, email me to see my portfolio or having massive watermarks isn't an option if you want to eat and pay your mortgage.

  8. Ru

    "Pinterest’s vision and Rakuten’s model for e-commerce"

    Ahh, facilitating copyright infringement and hoping idiots hand over money in return? One wonders how Rakuten managed to get so much money in the first place.

    Not looking forward to this bubble breaking; idiocy like this is not going to do any favours to genuinely worthwhile startups in the near future.

    1. elsonroa

      Re: "Pinterest’s vision and Rakuten’s model for e-commerce"

      I doubt that the bursting of bubble 2.0 is going to make much difference when it comes to getting funding for 'genuinely worthwhile' startups in the future. The dumb money that's funding the bubble would never have invested in them in the first place.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    80% of Pinterest users are women ^1

    So it's only natural that a site where only 1% are women (being generous) would not understand it.

    ^1: http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-networks/pinterest-demographic-data/

    1. jibberjabber

      Re: 80% of Pinterest users are women ^1

      Surely there must be some overlap between the men who make up the 20% of the Pinterest user demographic and those who make up the 99% of the Reg user demographic?

      If not, perhaps someone would care to bridge the divide?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 80% of Pinterest users are women ^1

        Being in that overlap I may be able to help, but currently late for my knitting group. I'll be back later after cooking the children's dinner.

      2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: 80% of Pinterest users are women ^1

        > If not, perhaps someone would care to bridge the divide?

        I dare say most of us who are male and understand why Pinterest is popular find the thought of explaining it to the rest of you too wearying. "Look, here's an activity which I do not immediately find engaging. It must be incomprehensible!"

        But those who want to take that first tremulous step into the exciting world of understanding other people might consider some related cultural activities, such as the taking and sharing of amateur photographs; reading store catalogs, fashion and "lifestyle" magazines, and the like; perusing the exhibits of a fair's awards hall. A few folks have engaged in that sort of thing over the years.

        I personally have a Pinterest account only because my wife sometimes refers me to things she might want me to purchase (gifts, home furnishings, etc) featured therein. My leisure time is taken up by other activities I find more entertaining. But I don't have any problem understanding why others might enjoy it.

  10. Some Beggar
    WTF?

    Does anybody know the current exchange rate

    between interweb zuckerburg dollars and real life dollars?

    By my reckoning after the purchase of Draw Something it was about fifteen to one. But this suggests it is closer to twenty five.

    1. jungle_jim
      Thumb Up

      Re: Does anybody know the current exchange rate

      It's Nigerian Dollars.

  11. Don Jefe
    Meh

    Entertainment?

    I have no desire to be entertained during my "purchase phase". I just want to give the merchant my money in trade for thing(x). Don't fuck with me or upsell me. I give you money: You give me thing.

    The big question is WTF are these people selling?

  12. Bucky O' Hare
    Happy

    Real competitor to Facebook and Twitter? (G+ doesnt count)

    Firstly, Google+ was forced upon us, but nobody uses it, so don't start.

    I run a big music & entertainment website at onedirection.net and up till today I've only ever saw the need to include Facebook, Twitter, and yes Google+ buttons, as they're the big three.

    Pinterest has grown so fast though out of genuine word of mouth. Its a site that people like, and its a great alternative to both FB and TW. So much so that Ive now added a "Pin This" button on the site.

    Guaranteed, we're seeing a viable new entry in the social media market here, not just an over-inflated-about-to-burst one.

    And its quite cool too. Give it a go.

    Chris.

  13. Gwilym

    Fashion

    Fashion people use it to create mood boards, discuss trends etc. It's become essential in that field.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "..gushed in a canned statement.." -awesome

  15. hhmcbess
    Happy

    Your Welcome

    Anyone looking for similar sites to Pinterest now that they have burst the bubble:

    Boxnutt (http://www.boxnutt.com): Reddit meets Pinterest

    Pinspire - same as pinterest

    Chill (http://www.chill.com): for videos

    Trippy (http://www.trippy.com): for travelling

    Gentlemint (http://www.gentlemint.com): for guys

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Your Welcome

      Will you take a tenner for the lot?

      1. DAN*tastik
        Headmaster

        @ A.C. - Re: Your Welcome

        I don't think you need to pay anything at all, from the title of the post I understand it's already yours, given to you as a welcome present for joining, or something like that!

        Just saved you a tenner, you're welcome!

  16. ratfox
    Pint

    Oh, so it is about <I>pin</I>...

    I thought it would be about pint... Of beer, that is.

    No interest, then.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    how many twats fill a planet?

    Perfect! Beat the rush and buy yourself some drawing pins and a cork panel at rock bottom prices right now!

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    app

    Hmmm, so I write an app to share photos I might make a million. Something like Periodfest just for women? Meaty!

    1. Magnus_Pym

      Re: app (PMTerest)

      Allows users to upload pictures of their loved ones, kittens and nice stuff and then destroy them (in a virtual way) at the appropriate time.

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