Reddit's valuation doubles to $6 billion after new $250 million funding

Reddit Inc. announced on Monday that it has raised over $250 million in a new round of funding (series E), doubling its valuation to $6 billion, reports Reuters.

The big picture: Reddit said in a statement that it plans to make "strategic investments" in the video, advertising, and consumer products, and expand into international markets.

The platform has 50 million active daily users. Reddit's advertising revenue rose 90% in the last quarter from a year ago, as the platform was at the heart of a retail trading frenzy involving "meme stocks" such as GameStop and AMC.
"It's a good market to fundraise," Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told the WSJ. "Valuations are very high right now. It never hurts to raise money when there's an opportunity to do so and Reddit had a strong year."
Of note: The platform recently drew attention for this 5-second static-image ad during the Super Bowl, per TechCrunch.

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After three months, WhatsApp Pay registers slow growth

WhatsApp Pay has processed just 1.6M of the 6.7B+ UPI transactions in the country since its launch in November, writes The Economic Times.

Between the lines: WhatsApp insiders say this slow growth has been due to choice; as the company wants to get the technology right and ensure a smooth user experience before marketing the service.

However, market observers feel that current concerns about the ownership and privacy of digital data and big tech firms' power could be part of the reason.
Also, WhatsApp Pay went live after months of regulatory hurdles, and that too for a restricted user base of 20 million. Some experts say that WhatsApp might be waiting for these restrictions to be lifted, to ensure a low rate of transaction failures via the platform.
Others also say that WhatsApp may not have invested adequately in technology and talent acquisition.

Of note: WhatsApp's controversial global privacy policy update does not apply to its payment services, which are governed by the India Payment Privacy Policy mandated by RBI and NPCI.