Breaking News: Twitter to Raise $100 Million From Insight, T. Rowe Price, Other Investors

The WSJ’s Michael Corkery and Jessica E. Vascellaro report:

Twitter, messaging web site that has become an Internet sensation, is nearing a deal to close as much as $100 million of new funding from as many as seven investors, according to people familiar with the deal.

The investor group includes mutual fund giant T. Rowe Price and private-equity firm Insight Venture Partners, which are new investors to Twitter. The $100 million investment is about twice as much as Twitter was reportedly expected to haul in this latest round of fund-raising.

Other investors in this round include venture-capital firms Spark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners, which have previously invested in Twitter.

The investors are valuing Twitter, which has yet to generate revenue or finalize its plans for making money, at about $1 billion. A person familiar with the deal said investors are applying a similar value to Twitter as that applied to Facebook, which at one point was valued at $15 Billion. By some estimates, Twitter is expected to have 25 million users by the end of 2009. Facebook has 300 million users.

The Twitter valuation is quite a lift from the company’s last round of investing earlier this year, in which investors valued the company at around $255 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

Twitter could not immediately be reached for comment.

The company still isn’t generating any real revenue, though executives say they are discussing various options, including advertising and premium services targeted at businesses.

The deal is expected to close today. It is Twitter’s third and largest round of fund-raising.