Reddit said to land China’s Tencent as lead investor in funding round that may value website at US$3 billion

Reddit, the self-billed “front page of the internet”, may be following the footsteps of messaging app Snap in getting China’s social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings as an investor.

The San Francisco-based discussion website is seeking to raise as much as US$300 million in a new funding round and has landed Tencent as a lead investor, according to TechCrunch. Depending on how successful it is in raising money from other investors, Reddit could be valued at US$3 billion, according to the report.

Tencent is best known in China as the operator of WeChat, the app platform that has 1 billion users, and for mobile game blockbusters like Honour of Kings. But it has also attracted attention in recent years for its role as a venture capital investor, with more than 600 companies in its portfolio.

This strategy has provided Tencent with a steady profit stream at a time when its core businesses of social media and video games face intense competition and increased government scrutiny.

Representatives for Reddit and Tencent did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.