US-based social media management platform Buddy Media has raised $54m in series D funding. Insight Venture Partners joined its fellow venture capital (VC) firms Bay Partners, GGV Capital and Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), all of which were existing investors, in the round.
WPP Digital, a division of the global communications company WPP, backed Buddy Media with $5m in October 2010. The investment was in addition to the initial series C round, led by IVP and including VC firms Bay Partners, Softbank Capital and Greycroft Partners, which raised $23 in October 2010.
Prior to that, Buddy Media’s Softbank-led series B round closed at $6.5 in April 2008, while its September 2007 series A round raised $1.7m from a range of angel investors. Buddy Media provides a platform for brands to attract customers through building an effective social network presence.
Buddy Media plans to expand heavily in the next year, doubling its product, sales and support staff in the next year, acquiring stakes in other companies – Buddy Media acquired social media marketer Spinback in May – and opening further international offices. Buddy Media opened a European headquarters in London last month.
Buddy Media has also announced that Kevin Colleran, who was Facebook’s first advertising sales executive, has joined its board of advisers, and Michael Kassan, chairman of business development company Medialink, had been named as special adviser to chief executive Michael Lazerow.