Editor’s note: This is a repost of a TechCrunch article written by Jon Shieber.
On the way to an initial public offering later this year, the home furnishing online retail juggernaut Wayfair has picked up $157 million in a new round of funding.
The online retailer is mum about who’s doing what with whom as far the plans for a public offering are concerned, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Allen & Co. and Bank of America are on the book.
Cash for the latest round came primarily from funds and accounts managed by T. Rowe Price, the financial services institution that’s been throwing money at venture-backed tech companies like it was a sailor on shore leave. (Surprisingly, it looks like T. Rowe’s good buddy on big deals, Tiger Global Management, sat this dance out.)
After the round the WSJ is reporting Wayfair will have a post-money valuation of $2 billion, which transforms the company from a wayfarer to a unicorn. In fact, with sales of $917 million, the company almost had to file with the SEC.
The new round for Wayfair and a wave of other financings for Boston-based tech companies makes it seem that all the talk about the city’s demise as a hub for great technology investments may have been greatly exaggerated.
According to CrunchBase data Boston’s doing fine, and investments in the city have actually been trending upward.
Wayfair began as a number of discrete online retail sites that were consolidated under the Wayfair brand with a $165 million round in 2012. Investors in the company’s mammoth Series A investment included Battery Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, Spark Capital and Great Hill Partners.
The Boston-based company’s global expansion and huge investment dollars put it on par with other e-commerce giants from around the world that have raised over $100 million.