I’ve worked with some pretty exciting companies and teams over the years, and I’m delighted to be helping Visible Technologies expand internationally. Today they have announced a new round of funding ($US22M), and I can tell you that the future looks very bright indeed for this smart company that is helping brands and agencies navigate the new world of social media in the US and now globally.
Read on from the official release below.
Visible Technologies Secures $22 Million in Funding Led By Investor Growth Capital
Funding to Support Accelerated Technology Development and Establish International Operations
BELLEVUE, WA. January 13th, 2010 – Visible Technologies, a leading provider of social media monitoring and engagement solutions, today announced it has secured a Series C round of $22 million in funding led by new investor Investor Growth Capital (IGC). IGC is the growth-stage venture capital arm of Investor AB, a Nordic-based publicly traded investment holding company with investment activities in North America, Europe and Asia. Existing investors Centurion Holdings, Ignition Partners, In-Q-Tel and WPP also participated in the round. The company will use the financing to further strengthen its technology platform and expand into international markets.
“The ability of brands to tap into online consumer conversations continues to transform the way companies do business—from customer service and public relations to R&D and product development,” said Dan Vetras, CEO of Visible Technologies. “This funding allows us to accelerate our growth path to continue meeting the demands of global customers and help them drive real business results through successful online consumer engagement. We chose IGC as our partners to lead the round for their market expertise, track record in creating sector-leading companies and ability to help us expand in markets outside North America, especially in Europe.”
Visible Technologies’ funding builds upon its past achievements and this strategic investment demonstrates strong confidence in the company’s market leadership. The company will continue expanding its unique solutions for online reputation management and serve companies as they determine best practices and discover new ways of using social media, such as internally among employees and within CRM environments.
The company also welcomed new executives to its management team to further accelerate the development of its technology solutions. Kelly Pennock, former president of Analytics and the BI Business Unit for First Data Corporation, joined Visible Technologies as CTO to manage execution of the company’s technology vision. Elizabeth Morgan was appointed senior vice president of products and services to drive Visible Technologies’ aggressive product development and manage its service organization. Morgan brings more than 20 years of experience in the enterprise software industry, including senior roles leading professional services, sales and product management teams at Attenex Corporation and PeopleSoft.
“Global brands continue to increase their social media budgets as they realize the need to tap into valuable customer feedback as well as holistically manage their online brand reputation” said Matt Krna, vice president at Investor Growth Capital. “Many solution sets give the ability to listen but fail to provide what’s really needed— the power to transform social data into strategic programs and tactical plans. Visible Technologies has defined itself as a clear category leader through its strong technology solution set, best-in-class customer service and proven success delivering actionable social media intelligence.”
As validated by today’s funding announcement, the market for social media monitoring and engagement platforms is growing exponentially. Savvy brands are listening and engaging with their customers online. To learn more, watch Visible Technologies’ video, “Starting the Social Media Conversation”.
About Visible Technologies
Visible Technologies helps companies like Microsoft, Autodesk and Xerox listen and learn what consumers are saying about them online and enables individuals to manage and protect their online reputations by helping brands to engage in the right conversations with the right influencers at the right time. With real-time business insight and response powered by the industry-leading truCAST technology platform, companies build relationships with customers, bolster their brands and grow revenue. For more information, go to http://www.visibletechnologies.com, or follow the blog at http://www.visinsights.com.
About Investor Growth Capital
Investor Growth Capital (IGC) is the wholly-owned venture capital arm of Investor AB, a publicly traded investment holding company, listed on the Stockholm Exchange. IGC was formed in the mid-1990s to invest in high-quality, growth-oriented companies, primarily in the IT and Healthcare industries. Today its 30 investment professionals are developing a portfolio whose value exceeds $1 billion from offices located in New York, Menlo Park, Stockholm, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Beijing. Investor AB is a leading shareholder in a number of European multinational corporations, including ABB, Astra Zeneca, Atlas Copco, Electrolux, Ericsson and SEB. For almost a century Investor AB’s business philosophy has been to build best-in-class companies in sectors where the group has strong knowledge and a networking advantage. IGC shares that approach and benefits from Investor AB’s extensive global network of companies and senior managers. For more information, go to http://www.investorgrowthcapital.com.
For more information, press only:
For Visible Technologies
Blake Cahill
425.957.6041
blake@visibletechnologies.com
For Blanc & Otus
Meredith Obendorfer
415.856.5167
mobendorfer@blancandotus.com