Women’s fashion network Glam raises $18.5 million at whopping valuation

Glam Media, a Brisbane company that claims its online fashion site network has seven million unique readers per month, has raised $18.5 million in a third round of funding.

It has now raised a staggering $30 million, a huge amount of cash for a relatively new media company. The company is valued at $150 million after the round, according to various media reports, a level that nears absurdity. VentureBeat has not confirmed that value, but if true, it will be very difficult to turn a media company into something worth that much in the real marketplace.

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Difficult, but possible, in this climate. It has a strategy. It plans to make a number of acquisitions, buying up Web 2.0 and other media properties. It has also struck a syndication deal with Hearst Magazines, whereby it is allowed to run that company’s content. Investors are clearly betting on the value of eye-balls, and in this sense, we’re back to 1999.

Its name, Glam, is sexy enough to help it grow. Glam cites comScore to say it is a top-10 women’s Web network (which include its own sites, but also Dwell, Nylon and 200 other sites and blogs). It runs news on fashion and celebrities, and then runs ads for folks like Guerlain, Victoria’s Secret, DKNY, Max Factor, Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Neiman Marcus and Target. It pledges 10 million unique readers by the end of the year — representing very robust growth. It says it will be profitable soon.

DAG Ventures led the round, with participation from existing investors including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Accel Partners, WaldenVC and Information Capital.

Co-founder Samir Arora previously worked at NetObjects (acquired by IBM) and Tickle.