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

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

Blumberg Capital has been the largest institutional shareholder in HootSuite until their August 1 Series B funding. Blumberg Capital and Hearst Ventures led the original seed round financing of HootSuite in December 2009 and a subsequent financing in 2011.

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

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.

Says David J. Blumberg on the deal, “this is a significant milestone and a triple win.  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.”  

Disclosure: I am an advisor and consultant to Blumberg Capital.