Spredfast Raises $50 Million to Fuel Growth of its Social Media Marketing Platform

Austin is a hotbed for social media marketing and the city’s biggest startup focused on the industry, Spredfast, just raised $50 million to further expand its business.

New investor Riverwood Capital led the Series F financing round. Other existing investors in the round include Austin Ventures, InterWest Partners, OpenView Venture Partners and Lead Edge Capital.

Social media outreach is an important function for every business, said Manish Mehta, Spredfast’s Chief Product Officer. Marketers are connecting with customers daily on social media site and forging stronger bonds in the process, he said.

Those social media feeds from Twitter frequently showcased in the Orange Room on the Today Show come from Spredfast.

The Austin-based startup works with some of the world’s largest media companies including NBC, the parent company of the Today Show. It also works with major sports organizations like the National Basketball Association and the National Football League.

And it doesn’t just focus on Twitter. Spredfast keeps its customers on top of all of the social media networks whether its Facebook and Twitter or Instagram and Snapchat, Mehta said.

“We have to stay on the cutting edge and provide support to every social network and every tool, not just a limited few,” he said.

The company plans to use the $50 million in funding to invest in research and development and sales, Mehta said. To date, Spredfast has raised $116 million including this round.

Spredfast operates in three major categories: direct customers in the retail, financial, services and travel industry such as Target, Brooks Brothers, Bank of America and AirBnB, indirect customers such as Whirlpool and media companies like Viacom and NBC, NBA and the NFL, Mehta said.

Although Spredfast is a privately held company, Mehta did report the company closed 2015 with $100 million in sales.

Spredfast also merged with Austin-based Mass Relevance in 2014 and last year it acquired Shoutlet. Today, the company has 500 employees, five global offices and it supports more than 650 customers. About 300 of those employees are based in Austin. The company is hiring across all part of the company, Mehta said.

Spredfast’s social media marketing platform integrates with more than 50 partners, including Actiance, Kenshoo, Google Analytics, Opal, Bitly, and all major listening tools.

Spredfast has also made some key hires lately including Eric Anderson as its Chief Revenue Officer, Melisa Fruge, Chief Legal Officer, Tim Collin, General Manager of EMEA, Leo Ryan, Vice President, EMEA.