JPMorgan Investment Could Value Twitter At $4.5B

Following in the footsteps of rival Golman Sachs GS, JPMorgan Chase's JPM, newly minted investment fund, which the bank formed to make investments in hot tech start-ups and social networking companies, is reportedly looking to make a minority investment in Twitter that could value the company at $4.5 billion. Earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank by market value, announced the creation of the new fund, with the hopes of raising $500 million to $750 million from wealthy clients. The bank has easily topped that total by raising more than $1.2 billion. It is not clear whether the fund, known as the J.P. Morgan Digital Growth Fund, will invest directly in Twitter or directly buy up current investors' stakes with the company's consent, according to DealBook. Both Twitter and JPMorgan declined to comment, DealBook reported. Twitter, the purveyor of micro-blogging servies, has seen its valuation climb in recent months. After receiving a $200 million investment in December, Twitter's value was speculated to be $3.7 billion. Trading of Twitter shares on SharesPost, a secondary market, currently value the company at $4.3 billion, DealBook reports, and now the JPMorgan investment could have Twitter seeing a valuation of $4.5 billion. Following new investments, the valuations for the hottest social networking companies. Following Goldman's investment in Facebook, that company is now valued at $50 billion by some estimates. Earlier this month, the valuation for Zynga, the maker of the popular CityVille and FarmVille games on Facebook, soared to an $7 billion to $9 billion on rumors of new funding. As is the case with companies like Groupon, Facebook and Zynga, investors and Wall Street banks are clamoring for Twitter to go public. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that some suitors, perhaps Facebook and Google GOOG, could value Twitter at as much as $8 billion to $10 billion. The JPMorgan fund, called the J.P. Morgan Digital Growth Fund, could also invest in companies like Zynga and Groupon rival LivingSocial, according to DealBook.