Marlin Equity Partners acquires social listening platform Talkwalker

Talkwalker, a cloud-based social media listening platform, announced today that it has been acquired by private equity firm, Marlin Equity Partners. The companies did not share terms of the deal.

“We are not releasing exact details at this stage, but it’s substantial and it will make a big difference to what we will be able to achieve in the coming years,” a Talkwalker spokesperson told TechCrunch.

In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Talkwalker CEO Robert Glaesener wrote that it was about having the resources to scale the company. “The founders and senior management have been working on this behind the scenes to ensure we can scale and future-proof the company, and I’m very pleased to announce that Marlin Equity Partners, one of the most prestigious global investment firms, has acquired a majority stake in Talkwalker,” Glaesener wrote in the post.

It’s worth noting it had previously raised over $4 million in equity. Its most recent round was a €5 million loan last January (approximately $6,007,750 in today’s dollars). The loan could have been a signal that the company was having a cash crunch.

Regardless, the company believes that with Marlin’s resources, it will put it in a better position to compete and grow in the future. “Their investment not only affirms Talkwalker’s promising success trajectory, but their capital base, industry relationships and extensive network of operational resources will significantly strengthen us in the coming years,”Glaesener wrote.

Talkwalker reports that all of its major employees will stay on after the deal, which closed today. “Talkwalker’s founders and management team will continue running the business and Marlin will bring added value and advice based on their many years of experience in the industry,” a company spokesperson said.

Shawn McMorran, a partner at Marlin says this as an opportunity to own a company in what it sees as a hot market. “The social media analytics market is continuing to experience significant tailwinds as a rising number of users adopt social media and an increased share of advertising spend shifts towards social media platforms,” he said in a statement.

Talkwalker is a cloud service that tracks social media mentions for brands. According to the company, it uses AI-driven technology to “analyze images and text in 187 languages across social, online and traditional media.” Clients include Merk, Microsoft, VW, BASF and Deloitte. In total the company reports it has over 1000 customers. If the acquisition is truly about getting bigger, customers should benefit from Marlin’s resource infusion in Talkwalker.

The company launched in 2009 in Luxembourg. The headquarters remain in Luxembourg and they have additional offices in San Francisco, New York and Frankfurt.