Vancouver’s Hootsuite, creators of a social media dashboard tool for enterprise and individuals, has raised $35 million in funding ahead of an anticipated initial public offering (IPO). Previously we speculated at the chance for the heavily-funded company to go public.
Today several media outlets including the Wall Street Journal confirmed that the company, which previously raised the largest round of Canadian venture capital, has now brought on an additional $35 million at an $800 million valuation.
“The financing from the Fidelity-led group gives Hootsuite, one of Canada’s most high-profile technology firms pegged to go public, an implied value of close to $800 million, up from about $725 million previously, according to one person familiar with the matter,” wrote WSJ. “The company, which offers a platform that helps companies engage with customers through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media, is still months away from a possible initial public offering, according to the person familiar with matter. But the planned financing from Fidelity signals an IPO remains the ultimate goal.”
Hootsuite also announced that it had surpassed 10 million users and acquired Vancouver’s Brightkit, a solution for creating gamified social marketing campaigns. The company also rolled out its new “Hootsuite Campaigns,” based on the Brightkit solution. Brightkit has worked clients like the Kentucky Derby, Dwell, Cassidy Turley and American Media.
Read Also: Born Out of Invoke Labs, Vancouver’s BrightKit Forges Ahead in the Contest Space
BrightKit had already been working with Hootsuite prior to the acquisition as Brightkit was added to Hootsuite’s app directory in 2013. Moreover, the same parent incubator that spun out Hootsuite, called Invoke Labs, spun out Brightkit.
Techcrunch speculated that a “large number” of Hootsuite’s 10 million users are using its free software, including 744 Fortune 1,000 companies. Additionally the company offers a “pro” option for $9.99 per month per user, and an “enterprise” tier priced on an individual basis. Techcrunch is also awaiting word back from Hootsuite as to how much money it’s actually making, how many users have transitioned to paid ones, and more.
To date Hootsuite has raised around $225 million in funding.
