::::Pinterest funding could value startup at $1.5 bln::::

<div class=&quot;custm_img_blk&quot;><img src=&quot;http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1337283077_temp.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; /></div><p>Silicon Valley startup Pinterest raised $100 million from a group led by Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc (<span>4755.OS</span>), valuing the company at about $1.5 billion and underscoring the huge investor appetite for social-networking companies.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>The news comes a day before Facebook (<span>FB.O</span>) starts trading as a public company that could be worth more than $100 billion.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Pinterest, an online scrapbook where users can &quot;pin&quot; images and follow others, has grown from less than one million users in May 2011 to about 20 million in April, according to IT research house comScore.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>The three-year old company, led by co-founder Ben Silbermann, had been seeking financing for several weeks, but many investors were wary about the billion-dollar valuation, venture capitalists said.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>That valuation puts Pinterest beyond the reach of all but a handful of potential acquirers, probably putting it onto a path for an eventual IPO rather than an acquisition.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Still, the company attracted many interested parties.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>&quot;It was one of the most hotly contested and sought-after financing events in Silicon Valley in quite some time,&quot; Mike Jaconi, a Rakuten executive who was involved in the negotiations, told Reuters.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Jaconi said Rakuten's presence in 18 countries helped it get a piece of Pinterest as the U.S. company was looking to expand internationally.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Rakuten's CEO Hiroshi Mikitani will take on an advisory role at Pinterest, Jaconi said.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>A Pinterest spokeswoman said the Japanese company would integrate the &quot;pin it&quot; button on its websites.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Rakuten, which offers services ranging from online golf reservations to internet banking, was joined in the investment by existing Pinterest shareholders Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Rakuten is aggressively expanding into global markets. Last year, it bought Canadian ebook company Kobo for $315 million and UK online shopping site Play.com for about 25 million pounds.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>HIGH VALUATIONS</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Valuations for consumer-oriented tech startups have been rising dramatically, as illustrated by Facebook's $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing application Instagram last month.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>Pinterest's $1.5 billion valuation is up sharply from $200 million late last year.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>The company, like Instagram, has no significant revenue.</p><p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;>A Pinterest spokeswoman declined to disclose the company's revenue, saying it is not focused on monetization for now. (Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi and Sarah McBride; additional reporting by Bijoy Koyitty; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Don Sebastian)</p>

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