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Hootsuite, the Vancouver-based startup known for its social media management dashboards, has raised $60 million in new venture funding, CEO Ryan Holmes told Re/code.
The new funding values the six-year-old company in the ballpark of about $1 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter. Holmes wouldn’t comment on the company’s valuation, but did say it has more than doubled since landing a massive $165 million Series B last August.
The latest funding was led by a new Boston-based investor that Hootsuite hasn’t revealed, as well as existing investors Insight Venture Partners, Accel Partners and OMERS Ventures. The company has raised a total of $250 million.
Hootsuite recently hit 10 million users — it was at 7 million last August — and has 600 employees, twice the size from a year ago. Hootsuite already has offices in London and Singapore, and the new funding should help it continue to expand internationally. The company plans to open a Latin America office before the year is out, and wants to continue its growth in Asia, Holmes said in an interview.
The money may also be used for acquisitions, Holmes added. In addition to the funding announcement, the company announced Thursday it acquired Zeetl, a startup for infusing voice calls into social media interactions. The idea is that Hootsuite users, primarily those who monitor social media for customer service reasons, will be able to connect with customers via voice calls. If a customer complains via Twitter, for example, a brand could respond with a link that would connect that user with a customer service agent via a voice call.
Hootsuite plans to roll out this voice tool to a select group of alpha testers in the next few weeks, and have a full release of the product by the end of the year, according to Holmes. Hootsuite also acquired Brightkit earlier this month, technology that allows brands to create social media campaigns directly within Hootsuite. “We’re building out the killer app suite for social [media],” Holmes said.
He wouldn’t divulge terms of either deal.
Hootsuite allows its customers to monitor their social media campaigns on major networks like Facebook and Twitter, but there are others networks Holmes has his eyes on. He wants to bring Instagram and Snapchat into the fold, too. “Our customers absolutely want that support, and we want to give it to them,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
