Verdane invests in Searchmetrics

Katharina Semke
02 September 2016

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Sweden-based Verdane Capital has invested in German search engine optimisation platform Searchmetrics.

Verdane logged its intended purchase with Germany's federal cartel office, simultaneously registering its intention to acquire minority shares in Smava, a peer-to-peer lending platform from Berlin, and cloud security business Hornetsecurity. All three companies are backed by Neuhaus Partners.

Smava's last round in April 2015 saw Phenomen Ventures leading a $16m capital injection, alongside Earlybird and Neuhaus.

Hornetsecurity has been backed by High-Tech Gründerfonds and Neuhaus since 2007 and received its last funding from Neuhaus in 2010, according to venture capital database Crunchbase.

Previous funding
Searchmetrics received a €7m debt facility from Kreos Capital in May this year. Prior to that it had raised $31m in equity funding over its five rounds. Searchmetrics received its first capital injection in January 2010, when Neuhaus provided an undisclosed sum to finance the company's international expansion. In December that year, venture capital firm Iris Capital joined the investor for another funding round of undisclosed size.

In February 2011, Iris led a third round of financing for Searchmetrics with €5m. Existing investors Holtzbrinck Digital and Neuhaus also participated in this round. The round brought the total raised to approximately €8.5m.

In March 2014, Holtzbrinck Digital, Iris and Neuhaus structured a €14.2m round for Searchmetrics. The three investors made another capital commitment of undisclosed size in November 2014.

Holtzbrinck and Iris teamed up for another €5m round in August 2015.

Company
Berlin-based Searchmetrics was founded in 2007 as SEOmetrie, but changed its name to Searchmetrics the following year. The company develops search analytics software for businesses, with a main focus on search engine optimisation. Searchmetrics also has offices in San Mateo, London, New York and Paris.

People
Searchmetrics – Volker Smid (CEO).