DST

Sequoia Set to Lead $500M Valuation Round for Instagram

Liz Gannes in Social on April 6 at 7:00 am PT

The popular photo-sharing app seems to have figured out at least one way to mint money.

Zuckerberg Is the Billion-Share Man: Who Owns What, Who Makes What in the Facebook IPO

Arik Hesseldahl in News on February 1 at 3:22 pm PT

Lots of investor funds, venture capitalists and individuals have a piece of the Facebook action. Here’s a rundown.

AngelPad Gets VC Firms to Commit $100K to All Its Start-Ups

Liz Gannes in Social on August 1, 2011 at 11:31 am PT

AngelPad,a San Francisco-based start-up incubator led by former Googlers, will now offer all participating start-ups its usual $20,000, plus a convertible note for a hundred grand from two unnamed but well-known Silicon Valley VC firms.

Why The Big Music Labels Won't Burn All Of Spotify's New Money (Right Away)

Peter Kafka in Media on February 22, 2011 at 3:30 am PT

Spotify is set to cash a very big check. And while the big music labels would like to get their hands on most of it, immediately, they won’t. So how will the streaming service spend its dough?

Exclusive: Facebook Exploring Permitting a Tender Offer for $1 Billion of Employee Shares at $60 Billion Valuation

Kara Swisher in News on February 10, 2011 at 10:34 am PT

Facebook is exploring permitting a tender offer up to $1 billion of its employee shares, after being approached by a number of big institutional investors about investing in the company, according to sources close to the situation. The new approximate valuation? An eye-popping $60 billion, sources said, which is a significant increase to a recent $1.5 billion investment round led by Goldman Sachs that had pegged the social networking behemoth at a $50 billion valuation.

DST's Alexander Tamas Talks About New Investors, New Investments and Dealing With Troubling Russian Stereotypes

Kara Swisher in News on July 19, 2010 at 11:15 am PT

After Russia-based Internet investor Digital Sky Technologies got $388 million in a stock-swapping deal with South Africa media giant Naspers — coming after an earlier $300 million investment from China’s Internet behemoth Tencent — BoomTown dialed up DST partner Alexander Tamas in London to interview him about the implications. This developing international spiderweb of digital and media companies begged the question of what DST might do with all this new dough, especially since it has created quite a splash over the last year investing massive gobs of money in high-profile, social-focused U.S. Internet companies.

It's a Small World After All: Facebook's Russian Investor–Who Just Got $300 Million From a Chinese Investor–Nabs $388 Million More From a South African Investor

Kara Swisher in News on July 13, 2010 at 10:38 pm PT

Naspers, a South African international media group said one of its subsidiaries was taking a nearly 30 percent stake in Digital Sky Technologies in a transaction that includes a $380 million investment. Russia-based DST has made a splash in Silicon Valley by investing massive gobs of money in high-profile, social-focused U.S. Internet companies, such as Facebook, Groupon and Zynga. Now, it apparently has even more money to spend.

Zynga’s Most Lucrative Game: Charm the Investors

Peter Kafka in Media on June 15, 2010 at 6:09 am PT

More lucrative than Farmville? Last year, the game company coaxed $180 million out of Russian investor DST. Now it’s set to get another $147 million out of Japan’s SoftBank.

Groupon Grabs $135 Million From DST and Battery–Valuation Above $1 Billion for Social Buying Site

Kara Swisher in News on April 18, 2010 at 7:07 pm PT

Groupon, the social buying site that has become one of the hotter start-ups of late, has gotten a giant round of funding from the same Russian investors that backed social networking powerhouse Facebook and game phenom Zynga. Digital Sky Technologies is the main funder of the round for the Chicago-based Groupon, but Battery Ventures is also participating. The money, the company said, will be used to grow the business–and to speed far ahead of numerous rivals–as well as cash out employees and early investors.