Hootsuite Receives 20 Million Investment from OMERS

OMERS Ventures, the venture capital investment subsidiary of OMERS Worldwide, announced today its investment in Vancouver-based HootSuite Media, a leading social media management system company. OMERS investment is one of the largest fully Canadian venture capital transactions to take place since 2002.

Part of this agreement, OMERS Ventures is purchasing a $20 million ownership stake in HootSuite from the company’s existing shareholders.

HootSuite is known for its successful social media support including publishing, measuring, analysis, and monitoring of multiple social network channels and its customer support. Recognised as a successful tool, corporate customers of HootSuite include PepsiCo, NBA, FOX Network, TIME and others. In over three years, HootSuite has grown in usage to nearly four million users from across six continents.

In its usage, 1 billion messages have been sent to social media channels through HootSuite. On a daily basis, 1.5 million messages are sent and reach approximately 1.7 billion consumers utilizing its services. Starting with only 25 employees, the Vancouver based company now is now comprised of 140 person team with goals to reach to 240 in 2012.

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“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.

Venture capitalism initiative by OMERS via OMERS Ventures got its start just last year. Entering into investments on behalf of the $55 billion OMERS pension fund, OMERS venture capitalism targets companies with strong entrepreneurial teams and leadership potential, specifically in the technology, media and telecommunications industry.

“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.