SAN FRANCISCO, June 17 (Reuters)- WireNews - LinkedIn, an onlinedestination for professional networking, raised $53 millionfrom investors in a fourth round of financing, giving thecompany an estimated valuation of just over $1 billion,LinkedIn Chief Executive Dan Nye said. Private equity firm Bain Capital’s Bain Capital Venturesled the investment round, and LinkedIn’s existing investors,venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Bessemer VenturePartners and Greylock Partners also put in money, the companysaid. Jeffrey Glass, Venture Partner at Bain Capital Ventures,said the $1 billion valuation is a big number if you thinkabout it in absolute terms. But Bain felt comfortable with its calculation givenLinkedIn’s popularity and the growth opportunities that lieahead, Glass said. We… feel like we’ll make a nice set ofmultiples on our money. A handful of Web 2.0 start-ups, providing people innovativeways to interact online, have recently secured highvaluations. Last year, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: MSFT.OMSFT.O~MSFT.O~, http://reuters.socialpicks.com/stock/r/MSFTStock Buzz) invested $240 million inFacebook Inc, valuing the social network at $15 billion. ThisJanuary, Slide Inc, a start-up that lets people createphotographic slide shows for social networks, raised $50million from institutional investors in a round that valued thecompany at $500 million. LinkedIn, which is five years old, has so far raised morethan $80 million, including the latest round, Nye said in aninterview last week. LinkedIn is growing like gangbusters and it is clearlybecoming a critical business tool, he said. Nye said he expects the network, which currently has 23million members and is adding 1.2 million new members every

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