Automattic, the company behind the WordPress blogging platform, has raised $160 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at a reported $1.16 billion.  The investment was led by Deven Parekh of Insight Venture Partners, and includes participation from Chris Sacca, Endurance, and True Ventures, as well as existing investors Tiger Global Management and Iconiq.

Matt Mullenweg (CEO, Automattic): This Series C round there was an opportunity cost to how we were managing the company toward break-even, and we realized we could invest more into WordPress and our products to grow faster. Also our cash position wasn’t going to be terribly strong especially after a number of infrastructure and product investments this and last year.

WordPress had raised an earlier $12 million round in 2008.

[Image courtesy: Automattic]