Dachis Group gets $30M to advance social consulting

http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/03/dachis-group-gets-30m-to-advance-social-consulting/#
The world’s largest social consultancy, Dachis Group, got a late Christmas present today, receiving $30 million in second round funding from previous backers Austin Ventures, CEO Jeff Dachis told VentureBeat.

Dachis Group sells software to corporations looking to better use social networking to advance their brands.

It was founded in 2008 by Silicon Valley and “new media” guru Dachis, who is best known for co-founding the then-white hot Web shop Razorfish in 1995.

Dachis has been adamant in the past that his new company is not just a consultancy but instead focuses on three key themes: social business strategy, social business engagement and social business intelligence, to help businesses navigate an “increasingly connected social world” to become “social businesses.”

The two-year-old shop has parlayed that “everything that can be social, will be” philosophy into building a stable of marquee-name clients at a scorching pace.

Dachis Group has been snapping up social-business consultancies along the way, including acquiring Portland, Ore.-based Xplane, an information-design consultancy in April, after its first, $50 million round of funding from Austin Ventures in June of 2008.

It also put some of that money to work last month when it grabbed Austin-based Powered, which creates social marketing programs for more than 200 customers, its seventh acquisition since its founding.

The company currently has 300 clients, including Microsoft, American Express, AOL, AT&T, Bud Light, Calvin Klein, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cisco, Citibank, The Coca-Cola Company, McDonald’s, HBO and Procter and Gamble.

It also estimates it services 15 percent of the Fortune 500 and operates the largest Facebook Preferred Developer services group in the world through its subsidiaries.

Dachis said it would use the money to grow most areas of its business, including attracting new talent and investing in process development, knowledge sharing systems and quality control.
It will also be aiming to expand its international presence: Dachis Group has 220 employees in offices in 10 cities across five countries, including New York, Philadelphia, Portland, London, Sydney, Amsterdam and Madrid.