social media monitoring

Why the Radian6 Sale is Good for Canada

By Mark Evans in M&A, Social Media 4 Comments Tags: , , ,

In many ways, the sale of Radian6 was just a matter of time. As a leading player in the fast-growing social media monitoring business, Radian6 was a big target for anyone looking to quickly establish a strong foothold. So when Salesforce.com rolled in with a $326-million offer, it wasn’t much of a surprise.

For Canada, the sale of Radian6 is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s disappointing to see another Canadian company snapped up by a foreign buyer. On the other hand, it shows that successful and world-class technology companies can be nurtured and financed in Canada. Radian6 had enough time and money from investors such as BrightSpark to embrace an aggressive growth strategy to become a $40-million company.

Far too high-tech startups in Canada never get the opportunity to even attempt to get this big because they can’t find the financial support to help make it happen. Even if a startup has strong prospects and sales traction, they often have to pursue money outside Canada.

The sale of Radian6 and last summer’s sale of Sysomos to MarketWire (Note: I’m director of communications with Sysomos) should be seen huge confidence boosters for the Canadian startup scene.

Both companies are home-grown success stories that should embolden entrepreneurs, investors and government that world-class technology companies can be built in Canada.

Last month, Sarah Prevette wrote a column in the Toronto Star wondering why there weren’t more startup success stories in Canada. In many ways, she’s right that Canada’s active and enthusiastic startup community should be doing better.

But the success of Radian6 and Sysomos demonstrate with some financing, it is possible for Canadian startups to not only take on the world but dominate a new and fast-growing market such as social media monitoring and analytics.

Sysomos: The Right Place at the Right Time

By Mark Evans in Social Media No Comments Tags: , , , ,

Having been involved in three start-ups, one of the must-have elements is simply having the right product at the right time. When I co-founded Blanketware in 2001, we were focused on providing natural language search so people could find and use online services. Unfortunately, the Web 2.0 revolution hadn’t happened yet so Blanketware was hurt by being ahead of its time.

A stark contrast is Sysomos (a client), which is now thriving with its social media monitoring and analytics services – Heartbeat and MAP. Not only is the company’s technology best-of-class but, as important, Sysomos is playing is a market in which there is huge demand from companies looking for insight and intelligence about the social media landscape.

It’s really exciting to be working with a start-up in the eye of the hurricane. There is tremendous interest in Sysomos’ services from companies around world. In the past year, it has attracted clients such as Roche, Shell Oil, Hill & Knowlton, Ketchum and Sony Ericsson.

While I’m obviously biased, Sysomos is one of Canada’s biggest high-tech success stories. The company, which spent three years developing its technology, has quickly become a fast-growing business, which is something that happens to a small group of start-ups.

Today, Sysomos unveiled a new version of its Heartbeat social media monitoring and measurement service, and it now includes Facebook integration. It’s a major step forward for a service that already had major traction. For anyone not aware of Heartbeat, here’s a short video.


For more on Sysomos and its services, check out this blog post by Jason Falls.


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