Brandwatch raises $22 million of growth capital led by Highland Capital Partners Europe

As the social data industry booms, Brandwatch gets aggressive on global growth and accelerates investment in engineering and international expansion

 
NEW YORK, May 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Brandwatch, one of the world’s leading social media analytics and listening companies, today announced new funding to accelerate development of its social intelligence platforms and to continue its rapid international expansion. The $22 million round was led by new investor Highland Capital Partners Europe with significant participation from Nauta Capital and other existing investors.

Highland’s investment follows a previous round of $6 Million led by Nauta Capital in 2012 as well as earlier investment from the Gorkana Group.
 
Doubling investment in engineering, growing globally

After another year of more than 100% growth, Brandwatch plans to use the funding to double its product and engineering teams, to triple its investment in physical infrastructure, and to significantly accelerate implementation of new data sources with a particular focus on emerging social platforms in Asia. The company will also continue to capitalize on its rapid international and North American expansion where over 1,000 brands, including 30 Fortune 100 companies, currently use its social intelligence platform to gather and manage actionable, timely insights from the social web.
 
Another successful year of growth

As the impact of social media has quickly spread throughout nearly all departments of an organization, Brandwatch has continued to expand its product reach from marketing intelligence into product research, real-time customer service and reputation management.

In 2013, Brandwatch launched Vizia, its social command center platform – a dynamic, multi-screen display that beautifully showcases social data in real-time for brands including Monster and Moneygram. The company has an excellent reputation for customer success for both its Brandwatch Analytics listening and analysis platform and for Brandwatch Vizia, ranking highest in the Customers subcategory of the recent Forrester Wave report on Enterprise Listening, and gaining the highest rating for customer satisfaction in the G2Crowd report from reviews of verified LinkedIn members.

Sam Brooks, co-founder and partner with Highland Europe will join the Brandwatch board: “In an ever chaotic world of social media, Brandwatch has quickly emerged as the global market leader in real-time intelligence. Their client list and impressive growth both in Europe and North America are a testament to the team’s focus on product innovation and customer success. We are thrilled to be partnering with the Brandwatch team.”

“Social data is the oil of the tech world right now, and we’re betting big on our own technology platform,” said Giles Palmer, Brandwatch CEO. “Our reputation as the expert’s social intelligence platform is only as good as our technology which is why we plan to funnel this investment directly into our Engineering department across the board. Our partnership with Highland will help fuel Brandwatch’s lightning-paced growth on a global level, especially in New York City and San Francisco.”

Founded in 2007, Brandwatch is based in Brighton, UK, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Berlin, and Stuttgart. In 2013, the company grew revenue over 100% and expanded its global presence beyond Europe and North America with strong customer traction across South America and Asia.
 
About Brandwatch

Brandwatch is one of the world’s leading social media monitoring and analytics technology platforms. It harvests millions of online conversations every day and provides clients with the tools to analyze them, empowering brands and agencies to make smarter, data-driven business decisions. The Brandwatch platform is used by over 1000 brands and agencies, including Whole Foods, Verizon, Whirlpool, Pepsico, British Airways, Papa John’s, and Dell.
www.brandwatch.com | @Brandwatch | press office | contact

About Highland Capital Partners Europe:

Through a dedicated European growth equity technology fund, Highland Europe embraces Highland Capital Partners’ global mission of helping great people build great companies. Founded in 1988, Highland has raised over $3 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 225 companies, resulting in category-defining businesses across consumer and enterprise technology. Investments include Aereo, Ask Jeeves, Bromium, Gigamon, Leap Motion, Lululemon, LevelUp, Lycos, MapQuest, Nebula, Qihoo 360, Quattro Wireless, Rent the Runway, Starent Networks, Sybase, VistaPrint and WePay. For more information, visit www.hcp.com.