The Luxembourg start-up Talkwalker has been a major international player in social media monitoring since 2009.
The company filters through and analyses social media for its clients, including Adidas, Orange and Luxair. How present is the brand? Is the talk about it more positive or negative? The Canadian company Hootsuite also recommends solutions for social media management, so they do offer complementary services.
“Talkwalker and Hootsuite have been partners for seven years. Now we wanted to go one step further and create something new to offer our customers further benefits,” says Lokdeep Singh, CEO of Talkwalker. Co-founder Christophe Folschette did not want to speak on camera, but did not contain his enthusiasm about the acquisition.
To put together strengths and offer them to customers on a joint platform, i.e. social media performance, is the aim of the acquisition, explains Hootsuite CEO Irina Novoselsky, who was in Luxembourg on Monday for the purchase.
“Our industry is evolving. We are five billion people who spend over three hours a day on social media. Most companies don’t understand the value that social media can bring them. We want to bring that to them, and Talkwalker plays a key role in that.”
Talkwalker employs 400 people worldwide, 120 of them in Luxembourg, while the Vancouver-based company employs over 1,000 people worldwide. However, the acquisition of Talkwalker does not expect to downsize. On the contrary, the plan is to grow and invest more in products and employees.
Luxembourg is also expected to continue as a location. Whilst the representatives would not comment on the cost of the purchase or the finances, they did add that Talkwalker has been profitable in the last two years and has achieved double-digit percentage growth.
