50 Million New Reasons BuzzFeed Wants to Take Its Content Far Beyond Lists

Here are three completely crazy insights about BuzzFeed, the viral content start-up:

1. BuzzFeed is a web traffic sensation that draws 150 million average monthly viewers.

2. Numbered lists, like this one, are what the site is most famous for and drive much of its audience.

3. BuzzFeed wants to be known for much, much more.

To help make that happen, BuzzFeed just closed a new $50 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. The investment values the company at about $850 million, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

Now the question is whether BuzzFeed can maintain the agility and skills of a tech start-up while building the breadth of a large media company.

“As we grow, how can we maintain a culture that can still be entrepreneurial?” said Jonah Peretti, the company’s co-founder and chief executive. “What if a Hollywood studio or a news organization was run like a start-up?”

That is exactly what Mr. Peretti is going to try. On Monday, BuzzFeed will announce that its new cash infusion will be used to make several major changes, including introducing new content sections, creating an in-house incubator for new technology and potential acquisitions, and putting far more resources toward BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, its Los Angeles-based video arm.

The goal: Try a bunch of new features, and fast.

BuzzFeed, which is based in New York, started in 2006 as a kind of laboratory for viral content — the kinds of highly shareable lists, videos and memes that pepper social media sites. But in recent years, the company has added more traditional content, building a track record for delivering breaking news and deeply reported articles, and it has tried to marry its two halves in one site.