Hootsuite, the Vancouver, B.C.-based startup that helps organizations better manage social media efforts, has pulled in another $60 million in venture funding that values the fast-growing company at about $1 billion, reports Re/code. The financing follows a $165 million venture round that Hootsuite raised last year, with total funding now at $250 million.
The new funding will be greeted with smiles by one prominent Seattle angel investor. Geoff Entress was an early backer of Hootsuite, telling me last year that Hootsuite could become his best angel investment ever.
Entress and Hootsuite founder Ryan Holmes also are partners on a startup incubator in Vancouver dubbed Invoke Labs.
More than 1,600 enterprise customers and 10 million people now use Hootsuite, utilizing it to manage campaigns across social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter. The new cash — provided by Accel Partners, OMERS Ventures and Insight Venture Partners — will be used to accelerate adoption.
“This financing will help us scale even faster on a global level and bring the most innovative products to market,” said Homes in a press release. “The strong commitment from investors during this time of amazing growth marks an exciting milestone for Hootsuite.”
In addition to the new funding, Hootsuite announced that it has acquired social telephony company Zeetl, with the voice telephony service to be adopted into it social relationship platform. Earlier this month, Hootsuite acquired social campaign management platform Brightkit.
“Acquisitions form an important part of our growth strategy,” said Holmes, “We’re expecting big things from the brilliant team at Zeetl and Brightkit and are looking forward to getting this technology into the hands of our customers.”
