
Ning Raises $15 Million More at a - Yes, Really - $750 Million Valuation - jkopelman
http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090721/ning-raises-15-million-more-at-a-yes-really-750-million-valuation/
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redorb
750mm sounds crazy until you read that they have raised 119mm so far... thats
only a 5.5x ROI if sold at that valuation.

*Ning has 29.5mm registered users, but is adding 1mm every 15 days, to me this says fluff ...

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neilc
_750mm sounds crazy until you read that they have raised 119mm so far... thats
only a 5.5x ROI if sold at that valuation._

Perhaps, but that doesn't make $750 million any less crazy.

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rjurney
It sort of does - if the money came from existing investors in a follow-on
round. If they're just trying to keep it from being a down round for
appearances sake - as in Ning would run out of money otherwise - they might be
contributing in amounts equal to the existing cap table, so whatever the
valuation they're only cramming themselves down, and it doesn't matter how
much.

I don't know what happened, but this makes sense. Most every investor is
shoveling money into their existing deals right now to keep them afloat. I
could issue a million shares, then sell you one for $750, and wallah, I'm
valued at $750m. Neat trick eh?

Someone slap me if my stock math is broken.

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neilc
_It sort of does - if the money came from existing investors in a follow-on
round._

It didn't: "The money for this fifth Series E round comes from a Silicon
Valley venture firm, Lightspeed Venture Partners ... [there was] interest by
Ning in adding a top VC to its investor pool."

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rjurney
+1 for superior reading comprehension.

