Spredfast Secures $12 Million in Venture Capital

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Spredfast, a leading social media management system provider, today announced it has raised $12 million in Series B funding led by InterWest Partners.  Also participating in the round is Austin Ventures, the lead investor of the company's $3.6 million Series A round.  Spredfast plans to use the funding to expand its industry-leading platform that helps companies better manage engagement and conversion across all major social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs and Foursquare.

"The pace of customer engagement on social channels is picking up for every company.  We are helping companies bring more brands, more functions and more geographies onto the social business platform every day," said Rod Favaron, CEO at Spredfast. "This market is only getting started. We are excited to be able to accelerate our product roadmap and company growth targets to help our enterprise customers succeed."

Spredfast's social business software provides a unified platform for enterprises and agencies to manage, monitor and analyze their social media programs for improved business results.  In recent months, the Spredfast social business platform has expanded to offer Facebook tab management capabilities for companies focused on page engagement, added new enhanced security options for regulated industries, and continued to lead the market in adopting new social channel capabilities like pictures in Twitter and post targeting within Facebook.  

With a broad roster of leading enterprises and digital agencies, Spredfast recently announced the addition of new customers including Warner Brothers, Wells Fargo, PNC Bank, Fireman's Fund, AARP, and Coty.  Strong support continued with digital agencies including Again Interactive, Best Rank, Harbinger and Digital Influence expanding their engagements with Spredfast.

"Every company is wrestling with the challenges of becoming a more social business. This means giving customers more ways to engage with you," said Doug Pepper, General Partner at InterWest. "Spredfast has really helped shape this market for enterprises – delivering innovative management, analysis and integration capabilities not available anywhere else.  We are excited to be part of the next round of innovation in this market."

"As an early investor in Spredfast, we are pleased to see its continued company growth and consistent delivery of product innovation that's truly driving how the enterprise will manage and engage in social," said Mike Dodd, Partner at Austin Ventures. "Looking forward to the next round of innovation in social business – around conversion, attribution and other key business metrics – Spredfast is perfectly positioned to help companies get value, not just engagement, from their social activity."

Doug Pepper will join Rod Favaron, Mike Dodd and founder Ken Cho on the Spredfast Board of Directors.

About Spredfast:

Based in Austin, Texas, Spredfast provides social business software that allows organizations to manage, monitor, and measure their social media programs, and the effectiveness of each piece of content, across multiple social media channels. Spredfast allows its clients to extend their branded content and engage with its audience from a single administration interface to the blogosphere and the major social networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Foursquare. Some of the enterprise adopters on board with Spredfast include AOL, Nokia, Bayer, Convio, HomeAway, Porter Novelli and Spring Creek Group. For more information, visit http://spredfast.com/.

About InterWest Partners

For more than 30 years, InterWest (www.interwest.com) has partnered with exceptional entrepreneurs to build winning technology and life sciences companies. With more than 200 years of combined operating and investing experience, the firm's investing team has raised $2.8B, completed more than 70 IPOs, and participated in nearly 60 upside acquisitions. As the firm invests InterWest X, a $650M fund, the InterWest team continues to believe that providing capital is just the beginning of a long-term collaboration with entrepreneurs to turn their vision into a thriving company.

About Austin Ventures

Austin Ventures ("AV") has worked with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies for over 25 years. With $3.9 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital and growth equity firm in Texas and one of the most established in the nation. With an investment focus on new media, Internet, information services, business services and supply chain, and financial services. AV invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 in "planned experiments" in early-stage ideas to $100+ million investments in expansion rounds and recapitalizations. AV's strategy is to partner with talented executives and entrepreneurs through its CEO-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs. Visit austinventures.com for more information.

Media contact:
Brittany Edwards
Spredfast
[email protected]
(512) 538-0460 x1206

SOURCE Spredfast