Tumblr drives more pageviews, more money

Microblogging platform Tumblr has seen exponential growth in the last few years, and there’s no sign of slowing in sight. Tumblr now generates 6.5 billion pageviews each month from its 30 million blogs, making the site one of the most formidable players in social media.

Tumblr’s steady growth has also attracted new venture capitalists. Yesterday, the company announced that it had raised $85 million from a financial round led by Greylock Partners, Insight Venture Partners, and the Chernin Group. Richard Branson, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital also contributed.

Founder David Karp said the money would “allows us to continue to scale our business and give real focus to the further development of Tumblr.” He did not disclose Tumblr’s valuation.

Although Tumblr earns no where near Facebook’s 503 billion pageviews per month, it’s becoming one of the most popular destinations on the Web. According to ComScore, Tumblr is bigger than Wikipedia and even Twitter. The site also hosts more blogs than one of its main rivals, WordPress.com.

“Tumblr has come far since we began our journey,” said Karp. “From the early users signing up to easily share all of the things they cared about, to the global community today where creators have an incredible opportunity to reach an audience of hundreds of millions, it’s been a remarkable four years.”