Hubspot, a Cambridge, Mass. specialist in in-bound marketing technology, snagged $ 35 million in new venture money which brings its total funding to $ 100 million.
The company has big plans for that cash including acquisitions and more hiring, CEO and Co-founder Brian Halligan told me next week. “We just opened our office in Ireland and we have 70 openings now for software developers, sales and marketing people. Next year, we’ll look at Asia,”
Acquisitions would not be new to Hubspot which last year bought Performable, a marketing automation company and oneforty a social media company and added their capabilities into its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering.
The company , which now has 400 employees, says its software suite gives marketers the tools they need that want to attract or “pull in” customers via blogs, Twitter feeds, Facebook etc. rather than the old model of broadcast marketing which often falls on deaf ears. ”Marketers need content management, social networking, automation tools, we do all of that,” said Halligan who co-founded the company with Dharmesh Shah.
Hubspot to some extent competes with Salesforce.com which is also a partner and — interestingly — an investor. Salesforce.com has a habit of investing in companies (e.g. Box) and then launching competitive products — (e.g. Chatterbox.) Salesforce started out as a CRM and sales force automation SaaS but has been steadily adding more capabilities and functions. It bought Radian6 and Buddy Media to bolster its own social media savvy.
Halligan characterized this new funding as a mezzanine, pre-IPO, round. It includes contributions from a new, unnamed backer as well as Altimeter Capital, Cross Creek Capital and previous investors. That roster is a long list including General Catalyst, Matrix Partners, Scale Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, Charles River Ventures and the aforementioned Salesforce.com.
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