Photo-sharing site Pinterest raises a mega-round–and, at a valuation that already puts it well past Instagram’s deal value.

Online bulletin board Pinterest has raised $100 million in a financing round that values the US start-up at $1.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal said, writes Reuters. The funding is led by Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten, with existing investors such as Andreessen Horowitz, FirstMark Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners also participating, writes Reuters. Reuters – [...]

The billion-dollar Facebook-Instagram deal has venture capitalists and investment bankers alike licking their chops, in hopes of the next mega transaction (or, just the next Pinterest).

The Instagram acquisition just offered concrete evidence the $1 billion Pinterest valuation is probably a low-ball… So, how should the photo-sharing startup conduct its next round of financing?

This morning’s peHUB First Read comes with an obvious book deal, another obvious reason to like NYC, and the awesome return of Sim City!

As most industry observers already know, today Andreessen Horowitz, the Sand Hill Road firm, announced it has closed on $1.5 billion in fresh capital, bringing the money raised by the firm – founded less than three years ago — to a stunning $2.7 billion. Whether that’s good news or bad for Silicon Valley is an [...]

There it was one day last November: Pinspire, a site that looks almost comically like Palo Alto-based Pinterest, the popular pinboard site that invites users to find and collect images online. For anyone familiar with the oeuvre of the Samwers – Alexander, Marc, and Oliver – months-old Pinspire comes as little surprise. Even the prim [...]