Photo-sharing application company Pinterest has raised $US150 million ($200 million) from existing investors in its latest round of funding, which values the company at $US12.3 billion, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

The latest funding round has slightly increased the company's valuation from $US11 billion when Pinterest raised $US367 million in March 2015.

The additional capital will be used for further investments in visual technology and global expansion, the spokeswoman said in a statement over email.

By raising money, Pinterest is choosing to delay a potential initial public offering as its business model matures. The company generates revenue by selling ads that look like posts on its site.

Each month, 175 million people use Pinterest to collect and post images related to fashion, travel, cooking and other interests. The San Francisco-based company is targeting revenue of more than $US500 million this year, people familiar with the matter have said.

Pinterest, once one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups, has been overshadowed by its faster-growing competitors. In the time since its last fundraising, Snap went public, Facebook-owned Instagram reached 700 million users, and Google built competitive image-based shopping technology.

Pinterest has said its growth potential depends on improving its product to match people with images that reflect their interests and inspire them.

The company said it will use the funds to improve its computer vision and visual search technologies like its Lens camera search, which lets users take pictures on their phone and search for similar items or images on Pinterest. The company will also use the new capital to improve its offering for international users.

with Bloomberg