Flipboard scores another $50 million

SAN FRANCISCO — Flipboard is the latest online media startup fast approaching a $1 billion valuation.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Flipboard on Tuesday plans to file documents for a $50 million round of funding that adds to a $50 million round closed in late September.

Flipboard's combined $100 million third round brings its total funding to $160 million on an $800 million valuation, according to spokeswoman Marci McCue. The startup was formed in 2010.

The social news aggregation app that turns mobile devices into personalized magazines also hit a new benchmark: 100 million users, up from 85 million. The app works on devices running operating systems from Apple, Google, Microsoft and BlackBerry

Online media is fetching sky-high valuations. LinkedIn snapped up mobile news aggregator Pulse in April for $90 million. Yahoo paid $1.1 billion to buy photo-blogging site Tumblr in May, and Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox injected $70 million into Vice Media at a $1.4 billion valuation in August.

Rizvi Traverse Management was the lead investor in Flipboard's third round, which included Goldman Sachs, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Index Ventures and Insight Venture Partners.

The company's magazine-like reader is positioned for advertisers seeking premium-priced full-page digital ads.