HootSuite Gets $20M from Canadian Pension Fund

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Social-media-management platform HootSuite has secured $20 million in secondary funding from OMERS Ventures, allowing a group of employees and early investors to cash out early.

Founded in 2008, Vancouver-based HootSuite has 140 employees, and 3 million users across desktop and mobile. It offers a free service to consumers and an enterprise offering to brands, including PepsiCo, the NBA, FOX and Time, that lets them publish and manage social-media content. Though it also lets users manage their Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ content, it's best known for its Twitter client.

HootSuite wasn't swimming in cash. It raised $1.9 million in 2009 from investors that included Blumberg Capital, and it took on $3 million in debt last year. A person familiar with the recent deal told Reuters that OMERS Ventures' investment values the company at $200 million.