HootSuite, a Canada-based social media software company which provides a social network management and analytics platform for marketing and communications managers, has secured an additional $165m for its series B financing round, led by private equity and venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners, with participation from private equity and venture capital firm Accel Partners and existing investor, OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS. Previous backers of HootSuite include Hearst Interactive Media, the corporate venturing unit of US media group Hearst.
The latest round represents the largest deal ever in Canadian venture capital history for a software company.
HootSuite will use the additional financing to continue expanding its global reach, accelerate product growth and innovation, invest in additional sales and marketing resources, and continue evaluating strategic acquisition opportunities. HootSuite already has staff located in Vancouver, Toronto, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong, London and Sydney.
Ryan Holmes, chief executive officer of HootSuite, said: “HootSuite’s goal is to empower people and brands to reach global markets using social media – to help them connect, inform, and succeed like never before. This capital gives us additional resources to expand quickly and strategically into new markets, innovate rapidly, and deliver on our vision around the world”.
HootSuite was founded in 2009. Its enterprise customers include PepsiCo, Virgin, Orange, Sony Music, Telus, HBO, WWF, UPS, Panasonic, and 237 of the Fortune 500 companies.
Jeff Lieberman, manager director of Insight Venture Partners, said: “As demonstrated by their remarkable growth and widespread adoption, HootSuite clearly leads the market in the development and delivery of a social relationship platform.”
Jeff Leiberman, manager director at Insight Venture Partners, Ryan Sweeney, managing partner at Accel Partners, and John Ruffolo, chief executive officer of OMERS Ventures have joined HootSuite’s Board of Directors.
Previously, in September 2012, HootSuite acquired rival social media platform Seesmic, whose $16m in total venture funding included a $4m series C round from cloud-computing company Salesforce and SoftBank Capital.
In 2011, HootSuite raised C$3m ($3m) in debt bridge financing from investors in its previous C$1.95m seed equity round that closed in December 2009, including Hearst Interactive Media, the corporate venturing unit of US media group Hearst. Venture capital firm Blumberg Capital and angel Geoff Entress, also reinvested with new participation from Millennium Technology Ventures.