Growth equity firm Spectrum Equity paid $63m yesterday for a majority stake in Bitly, a US-based online link creation platform backed by media group O’Reilly.
Founded in 2008, Bitly created a link-shortening platform that helps users post links on online media sites where space is limited, and has since expanded that into an overall link management platform where an enterprise can connect and manage all of its communications.
Spectrum’s funding will be used to expand the tools and services offered by Bitly, and managing director Pete Jensen and vice-president Parag Khandelwal will join the company’s board of directors in conjunction with the round.
The company had previously disclosed $27m of funding, including $15m in a 2012 round led by venture capital firm Khosla Ventures that included O’Reilly subsidiary O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and RRE Ventures.
AOL Ventures, then the corporate venturing arm of online media company AOL, had backed a $10m series B round in 2010 that included Betaworks, SV Angel and Founders Fund. Bitly’s other existing investors include Accelerator Group and Social Leverage.
Mark Josephson, chief executive of Bitly, said: “This deal with Spectrum underscores Bitly’s emergence as the leader of link management, a new category that connects the customer experience and insights across product lines and departments.
“We see a future where companies have more brand visibility in every channel, real time data access and control over the customer journey because they have made link management a central part of all business units. Today’s announcement marks an important step towards this.”