What happened
On July 31, 2017, Reddit announced it had raised $200 million in new venture funding, valuing the company at $1.8 billion. It was Reddit's largest financing to date and drew a roster of prominent backers, including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, hedge fund Coatue, Vy Capital, and Fidelity, along with individual investors such as Y Combinator's Sam Altman and SV Angel's Ron Conway. CEO Steve Huffman said the capital would accelerate product and business work, notably the long-planned homepage redesign and Reddit's first push into native, user-uploaded video.
The raise reflected investor confidence in Reddit's scale and engagement at a time when the company was still building out its advertising business and professionalizing its operations. Reddit had grown to roughly 230 employees, up from about 140 at the start of the year, with Huffman targeting around 300 by year's end. The funding underwrote a transitional period that reshaped the site's interface and feature set, and it positioned Reddit on the trajectory toward far larger valuations and, eventually, its 2024 public listing.