PRESS RELEASES
OMERS Ventures Invests $20 Million for Equity Stake in Leading Canadian Startup HootSuite
One of the Largest Canadian VC Transactions in the Past 10 Years
TORONTO, ONTARIO and VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwire – March 29, 2012) - OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment arm of the OMERS Worldwide group of companies, and leading social media management system company HootSuite Media Inc., are announcing one of the largest Canadian venture capital transactions to take place in the past 10 years.
OMERS Ventures is buying a $20 million ownership stake in Vancouver-based HootSuite via a secondary purchase from the company’s existing shareholders.
Enterprise customers including PepsiCo, NBA, FOX Network, TIME and others use HootSuite for collaboratively publishing and measuring social media marketing campaigns, as well as monitoring social channels to provide customer support. In just over three years, HootSuite has grown to nearly four million users with dashboard sign-ups across six continents.
To date, there have been 1 billion messages sent through HootSuite. Each day 1.5 million messages are sent using the dashboard, with an effective reach of 1.7 billion consumers. The Vancouver headquartered company has grown from 25 people last year to a 140 person team today and is on track to reach 240 people this year. The addition of OMERS Ventures as an investment partner further positions HootSuite to continue this incredible growth.
“The OMERS Ventures investment marks a new milestone in the growth of HootSuite. We’re extremely proud of our company’s trajectory, from a modest beginning three years ago to our current global leadership position. We look forward to working with the experienced team at OMERS Ventures as we continue to deliver world-class social media management, marketing, and analytics product offerings to our customers,” said Ryan Holmes, CEO of HootSuite.
Launched last year, OMERS Ventures invests in venture capital assets on behalf of the $55 billion OMERS pension fund. OMERS Ventures looks for partner companies with strong entrepreneurial teams with potential to become leaders in sizable markets, particularly in the technology, media, and telecommunications sectors.
“HootSuite has revolutionized the way companies create and execute their social media campaigns. In a rapidly advancing market, we believe this company has the disruptive DNA to lead this market, and we are very excited to work with HootSuite to help further accelerate their success,” says Derek Smyth, Managing Director of OMERS Ventures.
About HootSuite Media, Inc.
HootSuite is a social media management system for businesses and organizations to execute collaborative campaigns across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Small, medium and large enterprise customers launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audience, and distribute targeted messages using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard. Across the globe, HootSuite customers rely on HootSuite’s flexible platform to invite multiple collaborators to manage social profiles securely and create custom reports using the comprehensive social analytics tools. Key social network integrations include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ Pages, among others, plus a suite of social content apps for YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr and more. HootSuite was founded in 2008 and its major investors include Blumberg Capital and Hearst Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Hearst Corporation. For more information please visit www.hootsuite.com.
About OMERS Ventures
OMERS Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over $55 billion in net assets. It is an initiative of OMERS Strategic Investments (OSI), an investment entity with a mandate to build long-term strategic relationships with like-minded partners. As both an institutional angel investor and a later-stage investor, OMERS Ventures is looking for successful companies with significant growth potential and market opportunities. We are seeking like-minded partners with a shared vision of building a vibrant and successful knowledge economy. For more information please visit www.omersventures.com.