Blumberg Capital Hits Jackpot with 52x Return in 4 Years on HootSuite Seed Investment

-- Bold, Early Bet Returns Significant Win for Early-Stage Venture Firm

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Early-stage venture capital firm Blumberg Capital, seed investor and largest institutional shareholder in HootSuite reaps a 52x return in just four years.

Blumberg Capital and Hearst Ventures led the original seed round financing of HootSuite in December 2009 and a subsequent financing in 2011. Blumberg Capital has been the largest institutional shareholder in HootSuite until today's Series B funding.

Today, HootSuite announced a $165 million Series B financing, led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from Accel Partners and existing investor, OMERS Ventures.

"I congratulate Blumberg Capital on their success with HootSuite, which demonstrates what many of us have known for years - that Blumberg is often the first institutional investor to identify and fund savvy entrepreneurs with truly innovative ideas," said Dennis Phelps, General Partner with Institutional Venture Partners (IVP). "I'm familiar with many of the other companies in Blumberg's portfolio, and HootSuite is just one of several that could generate very large returns for the firm."

"Blumberg Capital, a top early-stage investor, first discovered HootSuite at our first #140 Conference in 2009, a premier event for innovative social media startups" said Jeff Pulver, creator of #140conf and Chairman of Zula. "David Blumberg and his team have been extremely successful at helping HootSuite grow rapidly and are now making an outstanding return."

HootSuite has pioneered the category of social media management with more than 7 million users worldwide who use its secure platform for social media management, marketing, customer service and selling.

"This is a significant milestone and a triple win," said David J. Blumberg, Managing Partner of San Francisco-based Blumberg Capital.  "First, our investors will receive over 52 times their investment.  Second, this massive return validates our strategy of 'Leading the Seed' financings in early-stage, highly promising, and innovative software companies. Third, we welcome our new co-investors as the Company grows to even greater levels of success in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Social Media for enterprises and consumers."

"This transaction validates a third and increasingly popular path to liquidity for early-stage investors", said Leonard Lodish, Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of Business. "Until recently, early-stage investors could only target two positive exit scenarios: an IPO or a sale to an acquiring company.  Today, later-stage investors are eager to buy into fast growing companies such as HootSuite."

About Blumberg Capital

Blumberg Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs with transformative ideas to build successful companies. The Blumberg team has extensive experience collaborating with companies in Enterprise Software, Financial Services, Digital and Social Media, Mobile and Consumer Internet.  Blumberg Capital is headquartered in San Francisco with team members and advisors in Tel Aviv and New York.  Blumberg Capital specializes in leading Seed and Series A rounds with angels, venture capital firms and strategic investors. To learn more: visit www.blumbergcapital.com and on Twitter @blumbergcapital.

About HootSuite

HootSuite is a social relationship platform for businesses and organizations to collaboratively execute social media strategies across multiple social networks from one secure, web-based dashboard. Launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audience, and distribute targeted messages using HootSuite's unique social media dashboard. Streamline team workflow with scheduling and assignment tools and reach audiences with geo-targeting functionality. Invite multiple collaborators to manage social profiles securely, plus provide custom reports using the comprehensive social analytics tools for measurement. Key social network integrations include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ Pages, plus a suite of social content apps for YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr and more. To learn more, visit: http://www.hootsuite.com.

Contact:
Renee Blodgett
Magic Sauce Media
+1.617.620.9664
renee at magicsaucemedia dot com