Twitter just landed the largest single venture capital investment deal in history: $800 mn, according to reports, although the company would only call the amount ‘significant’. Half the money goes to Twitter directly and the other $400 mn will buy shares of existing holders. That means an $8.4 bn valuation.
And who’s leading the round? DST Global, the fund run by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. This isn’t the first time DST has written a big check to a social media start-up: two years ago, it made a big splash by investing $400 mn in Facebook, with a similar split of half the money to the company, the other half to provide liquidity to insiders.
The Twitter investment shows a change to the traditional troika of Silicon Valley start-up, American venture capital firm, and eventual IPO. Instead, companies get funding to build strength – working their way toward profitability before filing their S-1 with the SEC – and cash out early shareholders who don’t want to hold for years. Oversea investors help make that possible.
To read the full, original article click on this link: From Russia with MONEY: Venture Capital Is the New Export
