With the goal of becoming a billion dollar company, Ryan Holmes, CEO of Vancouver-based HootSuite and OMERS Ventures have entered into a key strategic partnership today. As part of the deal, OMERS Ventures has invested $20 million of its $55 OMERS pension fund into the social media dashboard. Omers will now have an equity stake that was arranged through a secondary purchase from the company’s existing shareholders. This deal also marks one of the largest Canadian venture capital transactions to take place in the past 10 years, with will be sure to get the attention of many within the investment community as they start to watch what happens next with the three year old company.
“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.
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.
[adrotate banner=”6″]
