To kick off 2021, Hootsuite, the Vancouver-founded social media management firm, announced the acquisition of Sparkcentral, a messaging app-focused customer engagement platform that offers virtual agents and automated message distribution. As Paul Sawers in VentureBeat reported:

Hootsuite was one of the early pioneers in social media marketing and management, enabling businesses to manage multiple accounts from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and more through a single dashboard. The Sparkcentral deal gives Hootsuite a direct artery into a range of messaging apps, including WhatsApp, WeChat, Google Business Messages, Apple Business Chat, Telegram, and SMS.

In the past, the company has made acquisitions to bolster in-house capabilities or fill internal gaps that have prevented it from serving key market segments. In the case of Sparkcentral, the acquisition allows Hootsuite to ramp up its targeting of customer service teams. “Our customers have been asking for more capabilities in the area of social customer care and we’re excited to expand our offering with this new acquisition,” said Tom Keiser, CEO of Hootsuite in a press release.

Given the rapidly changing and ever-expanding nature of the social media and marketing tech ecosystem, it’s no surprise Hootsuite’s history is chock-full of these types of acquisitions. In fact, you may have forgotten about many of them. So, here’s your quick reference guide for Hootsuite’s most consequential public purchases over the years.

March 2010: Swift

EContent Mag: HootSuite Acquires Android Developer Swift App:

HootSuite released a version of its twitter client for Google's Android mobile platform. HootSuite also announced plans to acquire Swift App, the company behind the development of its Android client. Swift App was helmed by mobile developer Sebastian Delmot, who will assist HootSuite in further development as a mobile adviser.

April 2011: TwitterBar

Business in Vancouver: HootSuite buys TwitterBar

The CEO of Vancouver startup HootSuite told Business in Vancouver April 6 that he had acquired Minnesota’s TwitterBar for an undisclosed amount. “It’s a good alignment with our product,” said 36-year-old Ryan Holmes, who created HootSuite 26 months ago. “They have a large 1.9-million-user base that we feel we can convert into paid users.”

September 2011: TwapperKeeper.com

Adweek: HootSuite Raises $3M, Buys Analytics Tool TwapperKeeper

The popular Twitter dashboard, HootSuite, has just completed a $3 million round of funding. And their first move after amassing all of that cash? Purchasing Twitter data analysis company TwapperKeeper. Looks like Twitter’s soon-to-be-launched official analytics platform might face some stiff competition.

September 2011: What The Trend

The Next Web: HootSuite acquires What the Trend to protect you from social media faux pas

We here at TNW have been big fans (and users) of social media dashboard HootSuite for quite some time. The Canadian startup has done huge things over the past year, including raising $3 million in funding and acquisitions of the Twapper Keeper and TwitterBar tools. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the company is introducing another acquisition today, of context provider What the Trend.

October 2011: Geotoko

Vancouver Sun [Remember when the Vancouver Sun did regular tech coverage?!]: Vancouver's HootSuite continues acquisition spree with Geotoko

Vancouver’s HootSuite is showing no sign of slowing down its acquisition spree, announcing today it has acquired the location-based marketing tool Geotoko. The acquisition is the fifth for HootSuite, which has already acquired What the Trend, Twapper Keeper, TwitterBar and Swift App.

September 2012: Seesmic

Techcrunch: After Long Startup Journey, Seesmic Is Bought By Social Media Management Service Hootsuite

Seesmic is one of those startups that never quit, it just kept pivoting. And today, it’s getting rewarded for all the work — we’re hearing it is about to close a sale to Hootsuite. We’re still trying to get the price, but we expect this isn’t a huge acquisition given the competitive market it is in today.

January 2014: uberVU

BCBusiness: HootSuite Acquires Analytics Firm uberVU

HootSuite announced this morning that it has acquired uberVu, a Boston-based social media analytics company. HootSuite has not disclosed the terms of the deal. It’s the company’s first acquisition since it raised $165 million last August, in what was Canada’s biggest venture capital investment in a software company ever.

September 2014: Brightkit

ZDNet: Hootsuite acquires Brightkit [which was also spun out of Invoke], eyes enterprise expansion

Hootsuite, best known for its Twitter management and dashboard app, said it has acquired Brightkit in a move that will bolster its standing with corporate customers. The company is transitioning to be viewed as a social relationship management platform for the enterprise said that Brightkit puts it over the 10 million user mark.

September 2014: Zeetl

Betakit: Hootsuite acquires Zeetl to enable voice interactions to social media conversations

Earlier today Hootsuite, one of Canada’s best technology success stories, announced it raised $60 million. In addition, the company stated will use the investment to purchase businesses that will expand its offering. One of those is Zeetl, a company that social telephony platform that is also based in Vancouver.

March 2016: Sales Prodigy

MarketingLand: Hootsuite buys Sales Prodigy app to offer better tools for social marketing to potential buyers

In addition to being a marketing arena for listening about a brand or getting a message out, social media can also generate leads. To sharpen its tools for that purpose, social management platform Hootsuite today announced it has bought Sales Prodigy.

February 2017: AdEspresso

The Georgia Straight: Vancouver-based Hootsuite buys digital advertising company

One of Vancouver's high-tech giants just got bigger. Hootsuite announced today that it has bought San Francisco–based AdEspresso for an undisclosed price. Hootsuite is known for its dashboard application for managing posts on social channels. AdEspresso does this for Facebook advertisements.

February 2017: LiftMetrix

Martech Today: On a buying spree, Hootsuite adds analytics provider LiftMetrix

In its second acquisition announcement in two weeks, social media management platform Hootsuite said today that it has purchased social analytics provider LiftMetrix. The Vancouver-based Hootsuite said the addition of New York City-based LiftMetrix will help social media marketers understand something they don’t currently: return on investment (ROI).

January 2021: Sparkcentral

Financial Post: What Hootsuite's acquisition of Sparkcentral means for users

WATCH: Hootsuite CEO Tom Keiser speaks with the Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about Hootsuite’s recent acquisition of Sparkcentral and what that will mean for social media management on their platforms.

Which acquisitions had you forgotten about? Do you know any that haven’t been made public? Who should Hootsuite acquire next? Join the conversation on Twitter.

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