The announcement comes as Meltwater is seeing significant organic growth across all markets. Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jorn Lyseggen recognises the opportunity for a number of acquisitions in various markets moving forward that will fuel both organic and inorganic growth.
"We see acquisitions as an integral part of our growth strategy," Lyseggen said. "We believe in the next 24 months we will see high M&A activity in our space, and we raised this capital to give us the firepower to take an active role in these processes."
Since 2009, Meltwater has acquired nine companies, including the recently announced Encore HQ, a 500 Startups Alumn known for their social media alerts powered by data science. "We are primarily looking for proven technology in data science, machine learning and natural language processing," Lyseggen said. "We will also look at companies with a dominant position in a particular market or vertical."
"Closing this credit facility with Tier 1 lending institutions such as Silicon Valley Bank and Vector Capital is a great vote of confidence in Meltwater," said Martin Hernandez, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Meltwater. "As we look to further expand our already significant global footprint, we believe we've found great partners to work with that can help us fund organic growth as well as continue our acquisition strategy."
"We are delighted to partner with Meltwater in support of their continued growth and success," said Alex Slusky, Vector's Founder and Chief Investment Officer (CIO). "We enthusiastically support their vision to create and define the market for Outside Insight - where business signals from vast arrays of external data on the Internet can be captured and transformed into actionable and valuable insights for executives and operating teams."
About Meltwater
Meltwater helps companies make better, more informed decisions based on insights from the outside. More than 25,000 companies use the Meltwater media intelligence platform to stay on top of billions of online conversations, extract relevant insights, and use them to strategically manage their brand and stay ahead of their competition. With over 50 offices on six continents, Meltwater is dedicated to personal, global service built on local expertise. Meltwater also operates the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), a non-profit organisation devoted to nurturing future generations of entrepreneurs. For more information, follow Meltwater on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or visit www.meltwater.com.
About Silicon Valley Bank
For more than 30 years, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has helped innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward, fast. SVB provides targeted financial services and expertise through its offices in innovation centres around the world. With commercial, international and private banking services, SVB helps address the unique needs of innovators. Learn more at svb.com.
About Vector Capital
Vector Capital is a leading global alternative asset manager specialising in transformational investments in established technology businesses through private equity and credit investments. Vector identifies and pursues these investments in both the private and public markets. Vector actively partners with management teams to devise and execute new financial and business strategies that materially improve the competitive standing of these businesses and enhance their value for employees, customers, and shareholders. Among Vector's notable investments are 20-20 Technologies, Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Allegro Development, Cambium Networks, Certara, ChyronHego, CollabNet, Corel, Emarsys, IPVALUE Management, LANDesk Software, Niku, Gerber Technology, OpenSolutions, RAE Systems, Register.com, Saba Software, SafeNet, Sizmek, Technicolor, Teletrac, Tidel, Triton Digital, VFO, and WatchGuard Technologies. For more information, visit www.vectorcapital.com.
