Hootsuite buys Belgian-American startup Sparkcentral

Hootsuite, a giant in the social media management sphere, has acquired Sparkcentral, a customer engagement startup based in Belgium and the US. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Split between Hasselt and New York City, Sparkcentral enables one-on-one conversational messaging through all the popular channels, including Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, WhatsApp, WeChat and SMS. Thanks to the deal, a Hootsuite user will be able to use Sparkcentral’s automated message distribution platform to connect all customer-facing areas of their business. “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,” says Hootsuite CEO Tom Keiser. Christoph Neut, former CEO of the European startup, is now VP of Sales at Hootsuite. The Canadian company has bought 12 businesses since its founding back in 2008, according to Crunchbase. This is its first acquisition since 2017 and appears to be the first of a European company.